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Author: 


Boulder  [pseud.] 


Title: 


Hidden  causes  of  reckless 
advertising  waste 

Place: 

Chicago 

Date: 

[1913] 


q4-^^\q^'G> 


MASTER   NEGATIVE   # 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 
PRESERVATION  DIVISION 

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£66 


Boulder,  pseud. 

Hidden  causes  of  reckless  advertisiii.a:  waste,  by  ** Boul- 
der" [pseud.]  ...  1st  ed.  Chica^j^o,  Lord  and* Thomas 
publishing  house  flOK], 

112  p.    illus.    20*^'". 

•'Reprinted  from  Judicious  advertising." 


1.  /Vdvertisintr.     2.  Salesmen  and  salcMnaiislnp.         i.  Title 


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Hidden  Causes 

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Waste 


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Columbia  tHniberjiitp 


LIBRARY 


School  of  Business 


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Hidden  Causes  of  Reckless  Advertising  Waste 


Copyright,  1913,  by  the 
Lord  and  Thomas  Publisbh^  Housb 
Chicago 


Hidden  Causes  of  Reckless 
Advertising  Waste 


By  "BOULDER 

The  Business  Detective 


» 


(Reprinted  from  Judicious  Advertising) 


First  Edition 


Lord  and  Thomas  Publishing  House 
Chicago,  U.  S.  A. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.         How    the    House    Correspondent    Wrecks 

Business & 

11.,        Selling  Anununition  Aimed  in  the  Dark    .     .  li 

ni.      Cumpnigiis  Crippled  by  Fallacies  of  Salesmen  29 

IV.  The  Internal  Feud        41 

V.  Resistance  in  the  Shipping  Department    .     .  47 

VI.  Missing  the  Straight  Path  to  the  Market  57 

VII.  The  One-Man  Business 68 

VIII.  The  Weak  Link  in  the  Selling  Chain       .     .  74 

IX.  The  Best  Doctor  Cheapest  in  the  End      .     .  81 

X.  "Penny  Wise,  Pound  Foolish"      ....  88 

XI.  Defective  Cog  Nearly  Wrecks  Great  Machine  96 
Jill.     Mflu  Order  by  Hit  or  Miss 104 


,( 


(    !■ 


i/ 


«0 
1*1 


i 


CHAPTER   I 


How  the  House  Correspondent 
Wrecks  Business 


A  POWERFUL  figure  in  a  certain  line  of  automobile 
accessories  one  spring  morning  about  a  year  ago 
^   sent  for  his  advertising  manager  post  haste. 

When  the  latter  put  in  his  appearance  the  president  of 
the  concern  had  spread  before  him  on  his  desk  three  large 
sales  maps,  which  gave  at  a  glance  sales  conditions  in  every 
territory  in  the  country. 

"The  reason  I  called  you,"  he  began,  "is  on  account  of 
a  bad  slump  in  sales  during  the  past  month  in  two  terri- 
tories that  previously  were  among  the  six  largest  producing 
territories  in  which  we  sell. 

"Isn't  the  advertising  we  are  doing  in  those  territories 
right? 

"Are  our  competitors  advertising  so  heavily  that  our 
publicity  is  being  offset? 

"Are  we  spending  too  Uttle  there,  or  are  conditions  such 
that  our  products  are  not  being  bought?  Have  we  'jammed' 
the  market?  Is  our  copy  wrong  for  that  territory?  Are 
there  any  special  conditions  which  we  are  not  meeting — 
local  conditions? 

"Please  have  a  report  ready  for  me  on  these  points  in 
three  days." 

This  advertising  manager,  whose  judgment  of  copy  was 
sound,  and  who  was  a  close  student  of  the  trade  conditions^ 
found  himself  up  against  a  severe  task. 

There  was  no  visible  way  of  ascertaining  the  difficulty. 

That  was  the  way  I  happened  in  on  the  proposition.  The 
following  afternoon  I  was  in  conference  with  the  sales 
manager,  the  advertising  manager  and  the  president. 


Htddm  CoMMm  of  EeeMmi  Aimtidng  Waste 


Took  One  Temtory  at  a  Time. 

We  took  each  territory  at  a  time.    I  was  told  the  dealers 

who  had  the  articles  in  stock  in  those  torritories— some  of 
tbeir  business  trails  and  other  points  which  would  aid  me 
in  mj  investigalioii. 

There  was  ahiolnto  knowledge  that  the  product  was  r%ht 
~4iat  the  methods  were  right  That  the  advertising  copy 
^itself  waS'  sending  possible  buyers  into  the  stores  to  buy 
the  .goods  was  almost  certa.in  to  my  mind. 

The  concern  was  using  large  space  in  practically  all  the 
good  national  mediums  and  in  most  of  the  territories  the 
consumer  was  approached  through  the  columns  of  the 
newspapers. 

Trade  paper  space  had  also  been  bought  in  large  quan- 
tities. 

It  did  not  seem  to  me  that  anything  could  be  wrong  with 
the  advertising  campaign — ^there  were  no  breaks  in  the 
links  between  the  ads  and  the  consumer.  The  consumer 
was  asked  to  write  for  a  booklet  and  send  the  name  of  his 
dealer  or  one  in  his  city  or  town.  He  was  also  asked  to 
inquire  for  the  product  at  the  business  place  of  the  local 
dealer. 

The  newspaper  copy  carried  the  names  of  the  dealers — 
so  that  there  was  no  loose  joint  in  the  campaign.  It  looked 
good  from  every  viewpoint. 

Called  on  Large  Dealer. 

I  called  upon  one  of  the  largest  dealers  in  automobile 
accessories  in  the  metropolis  of  a  middle-western  state.  In 
the  store,  signs  calling  attention  to  a  heavy  advertised  line 
of  accessories  which  was  in  direct  competition  with  the  line 
that  I  was  investigating  at  that  time,  were  everywhere 
visible.  I  had  been  informed  that  the  dealer  had  handled 
exclusively  the  line  for  which  I  was  investigating;  hence 
I  was  somewhat  shocked  when  I  asked  the  manager  what 
he  thought  of  the  advertising  which  my  concern  was  doing 
— ^if  his  relations  with  the  house  were  satisfactory  and  if 
business  was  increasing.  I  was  informed  by  him  that  he 
did  not  handle  the  line. 


Chapter  I:  How  the  House  Correspondent  Wrecks  Busineu 

Was  Handling  a  New  Line. 

"You  have  handled  this  business  until  very  recently^ 
have  you  not?"  was  inquired. 

"Yes,  I  have  been,"  he  replied,  "but  I  am  not  at  the 
present  time  handling  it  and  I  will  not  in  the  future.  I 
have  given  up  the  agency  and  am  handling  the  line  which 
you  see  in  stock.** 

I  spent  some  time  with  him  without  gathering  much  in- 
formation until  he  finally  said,  "I  will  give  you  the  reason 
why  I  cannot  do  business  with  the  manufacturer  you  are 
asking  about.  I  have  worked  up  a  business  in  this  partic- 
ular line  for  some  years  and  last  year  I  sold  $25,000  worth 
of  these  accessories,  but  I  have  made  a  new  contract  with 
a  different  concern  which  calls  for  $50,000.  There  is  no 
question  in  my  mind  but  what  the  contract  will  be  largely 
overrun,  and  from  present  indications  I  will  sell  $76,000 
worth  of  these  goods  the  coming  year.** 

Knowing  as  I  did  the  heavy  advertising  campaign  wMch 
was  being  conducted  by  this  manufacturer  and  knowing  of 
the  tremendous  success  it  was  bringing  dealers  in  all  parts 
of  the  United  States,  it  was  rather  amazing  to  me  that  this 
man  should  wilfully  pull  away  and  adopt  another  line, 
which  he  confessed  to  me  was  not  equally  as  good.  As  a 
result  of  my  investigation  I  gleaned  these  facts. 

There  were  a  great  many  of  this  dealer's  customers  who 
were  using  the  goods  that  this  manufacturer  made  and  dur- 
ing a  period  of  six  months  last  past  he  had  had  12  or  15 
complaints  from  customers  showing  that  the  product  manu- 
factured was  not  100  per  cent  right. 

Fault  of  Manufacturer. 

This  was  clearly  the  fault  of  the  manufacturer  and  not 
the  fault  of  the  consumer,  because  the  manufactured  arti- 
cle at  this  time  would  not  stand  up  under  the  use  for  which 
it  was  built. 

Here  was  a  case  where  poor  goods  had  got  out  of  the 
factory  which  had  not  stood  the  usual  tests.  They  were 
sent  out  by  mistake,  I  found  later. 

The  dealer  had  been  unable  to  get  any  adjustment  what- 


Miidm  Causes  of  Reckless  Advertising  Waste 


Chapter  I:  How  the  House  Correspondent  Wrecks  Business 


C¥ef  fram  llie  house  as  lie  returned  the  product  time  and 
again.  This  showed  conclusively  that  the  article  was  not 
up  to  the  high  standard  that  this  manufacturer  had  him- 
self believed  it  was. 

Tlie  article  cost  from  $40.00  to  $90.00,  and  consequently 
the  consumer  had  cause  to  be  especially  "sore"  when  he  had 
to   bring   back  the  article,   practically   worthless,  to   the 

deal.er. 

I  asked  the  dealer  why  he  had  not  taken  this  matter  up 
personally  with  the  president  of  this  concern  and  he  stated 
he  had  made  a  trip  to  the  factory  and  explained  to  the 
head  of  the  adjustment  department  all  the  conditions,  but 
he  did  not  get  satisfaction,  and  his  letters — ^both  before  and 
•Iter  his  visit — seemed  to  have  had  no  effect  whatever. 

Said  Advertising  Was  Worthless. 

He  said  "that  all  the  advertising  in  the  world  could  not 
offset  the  local  conditions  if  adjustments  were  not  made, 
because  many  purchasers  were  dissatisfied  and  not  in  line." 
He  informed  me  that  it  was  impossible  to  get  buyers  back 
into  the  state  of  mind  that  would  compel  them  to  continue 
buying  the  article,  unless  adjustment  had  been  made  and 
that  in  all  instances  he  had  been  forced  to  stand  the  loss 
himself  and  these  losses  cut  into  his  profits  to  such  an 
extent  that  he  found  it  impossible  to  continue. 

He  informed  me  that  he  had  taken  this  matter  up — ^not  in 
an  aggressive  way  but  in  an  appealing  way — ^with  the  head 
of  the  department,  but  even  then  he  had  failed  to  get  a 
satisfactory  adjustment. 

I  asked  to  see  the  correspondence  which  had  passed  be- 
tween him  and  the  house. 

The  truth  dawned  upon  me  in  a  flash. 

I  noted  the  dictator's  initials  at  the  bottom  of  the  first 
letter— "H.  R.  E."  The  same  correspondent  had  dictated 
every  letter;  his  answers  were  short  and  antagonistic. 

Between  the  lines  I  could  read  over^zealousness  and  de- 
sire to  save  money  for  the  house.  A  desire  to  avoid  costly 
adjustments  with  apparently  little  conception  of  actual 
conditions  "on  the  firing  line," 


A  Sample. 

Here  is  an  extract  from  one  letter: 

"Your  favor  of  the  27th  inst.  at  hand,  relative 
to  an  adjustment  on  the  car  of  H.  L.  Henderson. 
.     .     .     We  cannot  see  how  your  customer  can 

in  any  way  lay  the  blame  upon  the , 

It  was  tested  36  times  before  leaving  the  factory 
and  was  mechanically  perfect.      There  must  be 
some  other  cause  that  your  customer  has  not  di- 
vulged— an  accident  or  an  attempt  to  fool  with  it. 
Under  the  circumstances  we  cannot  see  our  way 
clear  to  make  any  allowance  whatever." 
And  other  letters  were  similar  in  tenor. 
Apparently  no  attempt  had  been  made  to  ascertain  the 
true  state  of  affairs  whatever.     The  simple  desire  was  to 
save  the  house  money.    One  letter  was  even  insulting.  One 
phrase  of  it  was: 

"We   have  had  people   try  to  put  that  over 
before,  but  no  one  has  got  by  with  it  yet." 
That  was  certainly  serious.     And  the  dealer  had   de- 
clared he  had  been  insulted  at  the  factory. 
So  here  was  the  situation  in  a  nutshell: 
The  thousands  of  dollars  spent  in  advertising  that  pro- 
duct in  a  city  of  close  to  250,000 — all  magazine  and  na- 
tional publication  advertising  which  reached  that  town  was 
lost  simply  because  of  a  tactless,  overzealcus  correspondent 
— &  man  who  wasn't  broad  enough  to  admit  that  any  prob- 
lem had  two  sides — ^backed  up  by  a  factory  man  whose 
natural   capabilities   should  have   prohibited  him   meeting 
a  customer  alone. 

"Made  Good"  at  Own  Expense. 

The  dealer  informed  me  that  he  had  "made  good"  with 
his  customers,  but  in  spite  of  that  fact  he  could  see  a  falling 
off  of  his  business  along  other  lines,  and  customers  who  had 
purchased  steadily  from  him  were  drifting  away  and  he 
was  losing  other  business  that  should  rightfully  have  been 
his. 

These  conditions  were  taken  up  forthwith  with  the  manu- 


HiMm  €aum»  of  EeeUeu  Aimtidng  Waste 


f actef ef  and  an  inquiry  waa  started  at  once  which  deyel- 
©ped  the  fact  that  a  clerk  in  the  manufacturers  organiza- 
tion was  incompetent,  but  the  institution  was  so  large  that 
nothing  of  this  nature  had  ever  come  to  their  attention 
before.  Upon  asking  the  head  of  the  adjustment  depart- 
ment if  there  had  been  any  difficulty  with  the  dealer,  the 
gales  manager  had  been  informed  that  this  particular 
dealer  had  been  treated  the  same  as  everyone  else.  Every 
dealer  had  been  treated  the  same  way. 

A$  m  comequence  sdeM  had  fallen  of.  The  sales  depart- 
mtnt  and  ttdvertidng  department  were  blamed,  for  they 
mere  reipomihle  for  the  sales  of  the  business. 

There  was  plenty  of  consumer  demand  and  the  Bales  md 
mdvertising  departments  had  done  their  level  best  and  had 
aetudlu  produced  the  business,  but  the  resistance  was  tn 
the  correspondence  department  where  incompetent  clerks 
were  handling  the  business  and  had  failed  to  hold  it  after 
the  sales  and  adveHising  departments  had  created  it. 

Same  Trouble  With  Other  Dealers, 

I  investigated  100  other  dealers  in  exactly  the   same 

manner.  .11         •  *.• 

In  every  instance  I  found  the  same  trouble  existmg, 
although  it  had  not  caused  any  further  loss  of  customers— 
however,  it  had  established  a  barrier  of  resistance  that  was 
in  a  measure  difficult  to  overcome.  The  other  dealers  whom 
I  visited  had  not  so  many  complaints  as  the  instance  cited 

The  afternoon  that  I  finished  my  entire  investigation 
and  met  with  the  sales  manager,  the  president  and  the  ad- 
vertising manager,  there  was  a  terrific  shaking  up  m  the 
institutions  correspondence  department.  Incidentally, 
"HRE"  each  day  for  a  month  afterwards  was  compelled 
to  submit  his  daily  dictation  to  the  advertising  and  sales 
managers  before  the  letters  left  the  office. 

Beginning  the  Monday  following  the  upheaval,  30  mm- 
nles  each  day  were  devoted  to  schooling  the  correspondents 
in  tact,  diplomacy,  etc.  Examples  of  wrongly-dictated  let- 
ters and  their  corrections  were  presented  for  scrutiny.   For- 

10 


Chapter  I:   How  the  House  Correspondent  Wrecks  Business 

mulas  for  handling  certain  situations,  by  correspondence, 

were  devised. 

Strict  laws  on  adjustments  were  laid  down,  printed 
copies  prepared  and  placed  upon  each  correspondent's 
desk. 


»'The  campaign  had  fallen  flat.   The  correspondents,  like  those  in 
hundreds  of  other  business  houses  were  overworlced. 

A  serious  situation  had  been  averted  by  the  discovery 
of  the  house  correspondent's  errors  in  business  practice, 
and,  in  this  connection,  it  was  interesting  to  note  that  last 
fall  the  accessory  house  had  recovered  the  lost  business 
through  a  well-timed  visit  by  the  sales  manager  himself. 

11 


Bidden  Comet  of  ReckUu  Advertinng  WoHe 

Steady  Employment  for  "Business  Spy." 

dete^,f^ tl"^'  "^^  "  *«  "'P'^y  of  «  brines, 
detecbre  for  this  concern,  is  making  the  rounds   trav^Iin» 

fwm  town  to  town  and  from  state  to  Lte  inv^lw-  * 
tuiy  detail,  "on  the  iiring  line."  He  is  w'k^^^^^^'^ 
of  the  heads  of  the  dep^^s  orlZT^^  ^  ""^ 
this  manufacturer  and  W^^  "'^w  T  the  employ  „f 
became  that  is  his  bi^iness!       ^^     ^  ^  "^"^  »  'P^' 

PoSen?'or'^,!^r^'  T^   '^'^'   »«   '•°««   co"e»- 
ponaent  or  correspondenb  were   sraduallv  w.-<v.t.w  mT 

b«^  which  rightfully   belong^t  ft^  ^LC* 
^lueh  was  create!  by  the  sale,  and  advertisi^g^S^ 

Hie  CMCcfn  liad  built  «iuous  ousinesa  which 

I  foim^  c^pcdany  in  mailorder  propositions,  that  exrerv 

?^"^;^gT'='^"'^-*"  -  «*-  wSsrte:;:^ 

AU  inquiries  which  caine  in  for  a  w^eh  «»  f^«  j 
2«^ned  to  the  dilTcrent  oiE^L^  LI^^'o^rtheT^IS! 

my^S.""'' *"  *^  ^^^  ^  ""«  ^"»t»-<*  ^J^  come,  to 

Pj«r  Letters  Wreck  Mafl-Order  Campaigns. 

drS'of  inJlS  ftom  d'^r*'^  '"•"f"'  *"'  'eeeired  bun. 

the  rZ^rCr  Z  Sy  "  'Sf  ni*"";  ^"^r  .""» 
tfli>ii1«»  «««  •  •  ^       ®°**"  percentage  of  these 

Z!«T  ^^^  ^''*  *^^  ^^*°^e  was  wronirf  dly  placed 

iil»n  the  correspondents'  shoulders.  ^  ^ 


Chapter  I:  How  the  House  Correspondent  Wrecks  Business 

Answering  the  dealer  communications  was  reallj  the 
sales  manager's  task. 

The  correspondents,  like  those  in  hundreds  of  other 
business  houses,  were  overworked. 

Each  individual  had  more  work  than  one  man  can  safely 
handle.  Instead  of  making  the  prospective  dealer  ambi- 
tious to  secure  the  agency  for  the  well  advertised  product, 
the  correspondents'  letters  reached  the  dealer's  waste- 
baskets.  Then  the  dealer  would  continue  to  receive  the 
same  old  follow-up  matter,  without  a  spark,  without  a  new 
thought,  without  a  single  sound  reason  that  would  appeal 
to  his  business  interests. 

Enormous  Business  Increase, 

After  this  quarterly  house  cleaning  the  house  correspond- 
ents were  shown  the  enormous  increase  that  had  been  ac- 
complished. 

^  It  was  due  to  the  fact  that  the  letters  which  the  execu- 
tives wrote  stimulated  the  dealer  to  action  and  carried  con- 
viction, a  conviction  that  the  dealer  must  have  in  any  prod- 
uct before  he  would  stock  it. 

Here  was  the  cause  of  advertising  waste  that  was  com- 
pletely hidden  until  the  executives  decided  to  handle  a 
share  of  the  correspondence.  The  stimulant  it  effected 
converted  the  advertising  from  a  failure  into  a  success. 

Another  instance  of  this  nature  comes  to  mind  where  the 
house  correspondents  are  given  inquiries  and  are  instructed 
to  write  certain  kinds  of  letters  such  as  were  indicated  in 
the  foregoing. 

Every  letter  which  was  written  by  the  house  correspond- 
ent was  not  mailed  but  taken  to  the  private  office  of  the 
sales  manager,  who  scrutinized  carefully  each  and  every 
letter  which  was  to  be  sent  out.  Those  letters  which  "rang 
the  bell"  were  sent  immediately  and  those  that  were  of 
little  interest  and  did  not  tell  the  story  clearly  and  con- 
cisely were  held  up. 

At  the  end  of  the  week  the  house  correspondents  were 
called  in  conference  and  the  letters  which  were  "possible" 
were  discussed. 


1.2 


Hidden  Caum  of  ReMess  Advertising  Waste 


Tilcj  were  dliiected  and  returned  to  the  writers.  After 
Hie  first  "house  cleaning"  of  this  nature  of  this  concern 
the  increase  in  orders  jumped  over  40  per  cent. 

It  was  a  lurprise,  as  can  be  imagined,  to  the  house  cor- 
nsiponients  that  these  letters  had  been  held  up  by  the  sales 
manager,  for  they  were  unaware  that  these  letters  had  been 
carefully  scrutinized  before  going  to  the  mails. 

The  house  correspondents  by  this  method  we're  "on  their 
toes  •  aU  of  the  time  because  they  did  not  know  but  that 
their  letters  which  they  were  writing  to  prospects  were  beinir 
puie  over  hj  the  head  of  the  house. 

Every  Letter  of  the  100  Per  Cent  Class. 

It  can  be  readily  seen  of  what  vast  importance  it  is  to 
any  busmess  that  correspondents  be  of  the  highest  class 
employes  so  that  every  particle  of  "juice"— so  that  every 
Oliice  of  selling  energy,  intelligence  and  concisely  told 
■ales^talk  be  given  to  the  prospect;  and  that  when  a  letter 
reaches  an  organisation  it  is  100  per  cent  riffht  in  all 
tartanccs  and  not  20,  «0,  40,  60  and  70  per  cent  in  the 
great  majority  of  cases. 

Every  letter  should  be  of  the  100  per  cent  class.  Yet 
few  manufacturers  realize  its  importance. 

But  it  should  be  just  as  important  to  them  that  the  house 
correspondent  has  as  much  abUity  in  his  line  as  the  sales 
manager,  or  the  treasurer,  or  president  has  in  directing 
the  financial  and  intricate  problems  of  the  business. 

In  my  discussions  with  manufacturers  I  have  gone  into 

the  subject  of  correspondents  and  have  been  told  when  I 

inquired  about  correspondence  and  house  correspondents, 

Oh,  yes,  we  have  a  complete  set  of  letters  and  follow-ups." 

When  I  told  these  manufacturers  how  the  dealers,  after 
receiving  letters  that  meant  nothing,  consigned  them  to  the 
waste-basket,  they  began  in  a  small  way  to  realize  what 
house  correspondence  meant  to  them  and  to  the  future 
building  up  of  their  business. 

Why  Some  Campaigns  Fail 

How  frequently  have  I  come  in  contact  with  manufae- 


Chapter  I:  How  the  House  Correspondent  Wrecks  Business 

turers  who  have  told  me  that  they  have  received  hundreds 
of  inquiries  but  after  receiving  the  inquiries  no  business 
had  developed  and  in  a  great  many  instances  when  I  have 
ffone  over  the  correspondence  it  was  a  wonder  to  me  that 
they  ever  secured  even  a  reply. 

Great  injustice  is  done  publications  whose  pulling  power 
is  unquestioned — ^whose  inquiries  in  number  have  been  im- 
mense, but  the  cash  results  of  which  have  been  nil  because 
of  poorly  written  replies.    There  was  no  "meat"  in  them. 

You  manufacturers  have  a  house  cleaning  day,  whether 
every  three  months  or  six  months,  have  a  house  cleaning, 
and  get  after  your  house  correspondents  and  scrutinize 
carefully  the  replies  which  go  to  inquirers,  as  you  would 
your  bank  account  and  the  debit  side  of  the  ledger. 

It  is  just  as  important,  this  phase  of  the  business,  as 
your  trial  balance. 

Your  trial  balance  tells  you  each  month  exactly  the  con- 
dition of  your  business. 

Your  letters  to  the  consumer,  to  the  prospects  and  to  the 
dealers  should  be  scrutinized  just  as  carefully,  because 
this  is  the  true  pulse  of  your  business. 


15 


Chapter  II:  Setting  Ammunition  Aimed  in  the  Dark 


CHAPTER  n 


Selling  Ammunition  Aimed 

in  the  Dark 


BEFORE   a  body  of  troops  assumes  its  position  on 
the   firing  line,  an   expert   rifleman  determines   the 
correct    "wind   gauge'*   and   the   correct   "ranges- 
allowing  for  resistance  of  the  wind  against  the  steel  missile 
and  the  distance  of  the  target 

On  his  analysis  of  conditions  hangs  the  effectiveness  of 
every  man's  fire,  for  every  soldier's  rifle  is  "set"  to  equalize 
those  conditions. 

That  is  good  military  practice — ^the  war  department 
would  count  fighting  men  worthless,  regardless  of  their 
courage,  were  these  essentials  of  modern  military  practice 
omitted. 

Now  then — ^turn  to  modern  business  practice. 

And  take  that  branch  of  sales-promotion  through  adver- 
tising in  which  the  target  is  the  dealer.  And  the  selling 
ammunition  is  promotion  documents,  dealer-circulars,  book- 
lets, folders,  follow-up  letters,  or  co-operative  advertising. 

And  what  have  youf 

The  Business  Problem. 

That,  in  short,  was  one  problem  that  I  tackled  last  sum- 
mer. For  the  purpose  of  investigating  "under  the  sur- 
face" of  five  national  advertising  propositions — to  find  the 
resutance  in  the  sales  avenue — I  entered  the  employ  of  five 
great  men  in  the  business  world,  whose  names,  were  I  to 
divulge  them,  would  amaze  you. 

For  they  are  men  whose  names  in  business  are  extremely 
well  known. 

But  they  had  evidently  collided  with  the  law  of  diminish- 
ing returns.    As  evidence  of  the  commercial  correctness  of 

16 


their  respective  articles  were  a  remarkable  string  of  sales 
effected  by  their  advertising  in  past  years. 

The  central  selling  idea  was  being  driven  home  by  their 
advertising-— exactly  as  it  had  in  the  successful  years  past. 
It  was  supposedly  well  placed,  for  there  had  been  little 
change  in  the  caliber  of  mediums  used. 

Books  Reflect  a  Snag. 

But  an  inspection  of  sales  records  showed  a  set  brake 
somewhere  along  the  path  between  the  factory  and  the 
ultimate  consumer. 


You  Must  Know  the  Dealer. 


The  sales  were  not  in  correct  ratio  to  the  exerted  selling 
force. 

Here  were  a  quintette  of  advertising  appropriations  that 
were  from  30  to  65  per  cent  larger  than  the  year  previous 

17 


Hidden  Causes  of  RecUess  Advertidng  Waste 


— yet  in  no  case  mere  sales  more  than  22  per  cent  greater 
than  during  the  same  month  the  year  previous. 

Now  I  had  learned  from  situations  of  this  sort  that  the 
selling  avenue  was  somewhere  seriously  blocked.  For  in 
the  most  favorable  of  the  propositions  there  was  a  26  per 
cent  variance  between  the  actual  sales  and  what  would 
have  been  a  legitimate  volume,  taking  into  reckoning  the 
increaicd  expenditure. 

Establishes  Basis  for  Operations. 

Carefullj  I  prepared  my  route  through  states  and  sec- 
tions where  the  selling  barometer  was  especially  low. 

I  planned  to  visit  the  consumer — ^to  see  the  dealer — to 
see  the  jobber — ^to  peer  into  every  nook  and  cranny  where 
the  least  possibility  of  the  discovery  of  solutions  existed. 

I  ahull  not  weary  you  with  the  details  that  my  tour 
through  fourteen  states  embraced. 

The  jobbers,  I  found,  were  perfectly  in  sympathy  with 
the  &Ye  enterprises. 

This  was  the  net  of  information  gathered  from  the  mid- 
dlemen: "We're  getting  about  the  same  orders  from  our 
customers  as  last  year — don't  seem  to  be  dropping  off — so 
I  guess  there  isn't  anything  that  we  could  tell  you.  You 
might  send  us  some  literature  to  ginger  up  the  dealers. 
But,  of  course,  I  don't  know  that  you'd  get  any  results." 

Germ  of  An  Idea  in  Jobbers'  Attitude. 

In  the  jobbers'  laconic  summary  of  the  situation — ^and 
they  were  all  practically  of  the  same  mind — I  grasped  the 
thought  that  mayhap  the  dealer  was  unresponsive  to  the 
manufacturers'  increased  selling  efforts. 

In  the  case  of  a  number  of  articles  under  investigation 
I  was  familiar  with  the  fact  that  practically  every  dealer 
on  my  list  had  been  circularized  a  number  of  times.  The 
literatuf e  had  given  them  information  relative  to  cam- 
paigns— had  been  replete  with  ideas  and  business  aids  that 
were  calculated  to  quicken  action  in  the  removal  of  the 
goodi  from  the  dealers'  counters. 


Chapter  H:  Selling  Ammunition  Aimed  in  the  Dark 


These  facts  I  bore  in  mind  when  startinir  mv  mn^A.  ^e 
the  listed  dealers.  starting  my  rounds  of 

T  IZ  ft  f  Tlu*^*t  net-when  calling  on  the  dealers 
I  first  asked  if  the  dealer  was  receiving  this  matter  inform- 

TA^'^fu         ^^^P"?"'"'!  "f  the  manufacturers'  selling 

«!^j!!~-f  V*  7n  *^f  ^^  '*^"'  *°  *«  powerful  cam- 
paigns—if  he  fully  realized  the  potency  of  the  facts  thia 
promotion  matter  told  him.  =  i<k.«  um 

How  the  Dealer  Took  It. 

And  here  was  the  tenor  of  the  average  answer: 

rin'^^w   ^°°.  ^T  ^^"^  *°  P»y  ■""•'h   attention   to   that 

gu^s— but  most  of  it  we  throw  away  or  bum  up  " 

And  oftentimes  I  persuaded  the  dealer  to  give  me  ten 
minutes  of  his  time  while  we  wpnt  th,n»,rl.  H.  ™e  yen 

literature  together.  ""«''  **  promotion 

hrj^^fw"'^  i7,*?"'  "1.'"''""  "^  ^^"  resistanc^the  set 
th^w!^  ,  was  blocking  the  sales  avenue  to  the  eonsumer- 
that  was  resulting  m  a  waste  of  scores  of  thousands  of  dol- 
lars expended  to  buy  the  selling  force  represented  by  the 
advertising  campaigns  and  the  cost  of  the  promoHon  docu! 

chiner  '""'  *^  ^^^  ""^  ''"'*  "'PP^'=^  ^^^  '»"»««'  ^- 

/»  these  paes  of  hundreds  upon  hundreds  of  dollars' 
^oHhof  pasted  printed  matter  n,as  the  practical  demon- 
«H%^{  'if'^/'aie   <Ae   manufacturers  knon,   the   real 

Tult  L  ^  5'",  f  "'^  ?r  "^^''''''-'y  Winrf  are  manufa^ 
turers  to  the  dealers' problems.  Hours  «,ere  spent  in  going 
through  and  ducussing  specific  pieces  of  literature   a,^ 

Ktuf}'"^'       ^  ^'""^^  "*y  *^'  '^"'^'- '"««''  •■« 

A  Specific  Example. 

ne£sfitST°*'«n  ""''^"'  announcing  a  campaign  which 
necess  tated  a  60  per  cent  increase  in  one  manufacturer's 
advertising  appropriation  for  that  year  is  a  fair  S-" 

19 


MiMm  Causes  of  Reckkss  Advertising  Wctsie 


Chapter  II:  Selling  Ammunition  AimM  in  the  Dark 


tion  of  liow  tlic  a¥erage  maiiiif acturer  greases  Ms  own  skids 
off  tlic  itraigM  line  to  profit 

Hcte  was  the  start  of  this  circular: 

"This  powerful  advertising  will  sell to  16,000,- 

000  housewives,  for  YOU,  Mr.  Dealer." 

I  read  the  sentence  to  the  dealer,  upon  whom  I  was  call- 
.ing  at  the  time. 

"Think  of  that,"  I  exclaimed  to  the  dealer;  "15,000,000 
homes!  Think  of  the  tremendous  expenditure  that  that 
means." 

The  dealer  smiled.  "I'm  not  interested  in  the  whole 
country,"  he  said,  "If  any  of  my  customers  are  influenced 
to  buy  the  article  hy  that  advertising  I'd  be  glad  to 
push  it. 

*'Whd  I  »aml  to  know  is,  hom  many  of  MY  customers 
are  reading  this  advertising.  That  would  interest  me.  The 
wmmufacimrer  is  talking  {£out  publications  which  my  post- 
master  says  are  scarcer  here  than  hen's  teeth," 

He  was  a  level-headed  merchant.  His  analysis  was  the 
net  of  the  situation.  And  the  average  dealer  I  visited 
expressed  himself  much  in  the  same  vein. 

The  dealer  had  not  been  told  about  advertising,  except 
in  a  desultory  way,  by  the  average  salesman.  The  promo- 
tion work  from  headquarters  was  the  only  advertising 
story  he  had,  and  that  promotion  matter  had  missed  its 
mark.  The  dealer  was  not  co-operating  in  ratio  to  the 
exerted  selling  force.  He  was  failing  to  do  his  share — 
simply  because  this  selling  anmiunition  was  aimed  in  the 
dark. 

97  to  98  Per  Cent  Wasted. 

The  manufacturers  had  failed  to  set  their  "wind  gauges" 
— their  "ranges"  were  wrong.  There  was  seemingly  no 
understanding  whatever  of  the  dealer — of  his  business — 
of  facts  in  connection  with  these  campaigns  which  were 
likely  to  impress  the  retail  merchant. 

Without  knowing  these  things  they  had  aimed  in  the 
dark  and  missed, 

F»  fsMy  §7  to  08  per  cent  of  the  material  noted  was 

If 


absolutely  worthless.  It  was  not  suited  to  the  dealer's 
needs.  It  told  him  nothing  in  his  own  business  language. 
It  was  miles  away  from  his  own  problem.  The  manufac- 
turers would  have  been  quite  as  well  off — perhaps  better 
off,  for  they  had  lost  prestige  with  the  dealer — if  this 
weak  selling  material  had  never  left  the  factory. 

Let  Us  Study  the  Merchant. 

No  general  publicity  campaign  was  ever  reasonably  suc- 
cessful without  the  dealer.  You  must  know  the  dealer. 
For  without  knowing  him,  without  taking  advantage  of 
Iiis  environment,  selling  ammunition  cannot  reach  him.  So 
let  us  analyze  the  retail  merchant. 

One  potent  fact  which  stands  out  in  my  mind  today  from 
the  vital  points  gleaned  in  these  investigations  is  the  truth 
that  96  per  cent  of  retail  merchants  do  not  obey  the  most 
primitive  of  the  laws  of  business  science.  They  have  not 
the  faintest  conception  of  the  cost  of  doing  business.  Their 
methods  do  not  illustrate,  with  any  accuracy  whatever, 
whether  this  plan  or  that  is  a  sales  producer  or  a  loser 
of  business. 

And  this  is  scarcely  believable,  but  it  holds  good  with 
65  per  cent  of  the  merchants  upon  whom  I  called  in  14 
states : 

Neither  the  merchant  nor  his  clerks  were  aware  of  the 
fact  that  any  of  the  articles  they  carried  were  being 
advertised.  They  supplied  such  goods  when  customers  de- 
manded them  and  the  demand  in  the  majority  of  cases 
far  outweighed  the  demand  for  nameless,  unadveHised 
products.  Yet  they  expressed  positive  pleasure  and  some 
surprise  when  told  of  the  heavy  publicity  campaigns  that 
had  been  swung  into  action  for  their  benefit. 

Where  Does  the  Demand  Come  From? 

At  the  same  time  my  statement  that  they  owed  many  of 
their  sales  to  the  advertising  was  rarely  believed  by  any  of 
them— though,  on  reflection,  they  could  account  for  the 
demand  in  no  other  way.  Yet  the  truth  was  scarcely  within 
their  reasoning  power. 

11 


MiMm  Caums  of  Esckkss  AdveHidng  Waste 


Am  evidence  of  this  cliaotic  condition  in  retail  circles,  let 
ns  turn  to  tlie  seemingly  miraculous  feat  accompHsh^  by 
the  traest  friend  the  American  retail  merchant  has— -W.  J. 
Pilkington,  of  the  MercfmnW  Trade  Journal,  Des  Moines, 

Iowa*  a 

Mf .  Pilkington  some  years  ago  took  the  business  of  an 

lova  town  under  his  wing.     He  applied  scientific  business 

methods.    He  converted  chaos  into  order. 

He  was  keenly  alive  to  what  the  manufacturers  were 

doing— he  worked   a   revolution   in  methods   of   business 

management  and  in  selling  methods. 

Six  months  told  the  story.     With  no  more  mouths  to 

feed,  no  more  bodies  to  clothe,  with  no  population  increase 

to  aid  him  he  multiplied  the  town's  business  several  times 

over|.  til  eis  'Hioiil'^. 

Tie  A¥erage  Dealer's  Attitude. 

Ir  these  extended  investigations  I  found  the  average 
keen  retail  merchant  possesses  an  attitude  toward  national 
mid  local  advertising  little  short  of  remarkable. 

I  found  that  f uUy  two-thirds  of  the  merchants  I  visited 
had  the  idea  that  by  some  unseen  hook  or  crook  national 
advertising  defrauds  the  dealer  of  a  part  of  his  just  proht. 

"If  the  thousands  of  dollars  that  those  people  claim  to  be 
spending  was  devoted  to  making  a  bigger  margin  of  profit 
for  us,  we  might  do  business  at  a  decent  profit 

And  that  emphasizes  the  necessity  of  judicious  price- 
firing.  For  it  is  a  well  known  fact  that  it  is  a  difficult  task 
to  keep  the  retail  merchant  from  cutting  prices  when  a  long 
mftfjifin  If  ffiven  him. 

Statement  of  One  Merchant. 

One  merchant  upon  whom  I  called  stated  that  his  busi- 
ness would  mount  higher  than  $186,000  during  that  year. 
That  is  big  volume  for  the  small  town  merchant,  "e  mignt 
be  termed  a  member  of  the  more  progressive  school  of  retail 

dealers.    He  said:  „  j  i      j         ^  * 

"In  some  cases  I  have  been  compelled  by  demand  to 
stock   nationally-advertised   goods   because  my   customers 

It 


Chapter  II:  Selling  Ammunition  Aimed  in  the  Dark 


demanded  products  which  they  had  seen  advertised.  I  was 
forced  to  buy  the  advertised  goods  when  I  already  had  on 
hand  a  stock  that  would  have  served  just  exactly  as  well, 
I  do  not  consider  national  advertising  as  fair  to  the  dealer. 
My  old  stock  is  bound  to  be  a  dead  weight  on  my  hands." 
Which  should  have  been  a  mighty  lesson  to  this  dealer 
on  advertising,  but  it  evidently  was  not,  for  the  nameless 
goods  doubtless  had  a  wide  margin  of  profit  that  was  very 
enticing.  He  did  not  take  into  consideration  the  fact  that, 
ultimately,  the  faster  selling  advertised  product  meant  a 
far  greater  bulk  profit  than  the  unknown  goods.  It  had  to 
be  pointed  out  to  him,  but  even  then  he  was  not  con- 
vinced, for  the  immediate,  individual  profit  on  each  sale 
was  larger.     That  interested  him  most. 

Lays  Stress  on  Small  Profit. 

Another  merchant,  who  apparently  had  a  good  analytical 
mind,  cited  this  instance: 

"Why  not  give  us  a  larger  profit,  instead  of  everlastingly 
endeavoring  to  create  a  greater  percentage  of  sales,  for  a 
dealer  would  gladly  push  the  goods  harder.  He  could 
afford  it.  Here  is  a  26  cent  article  that  costs  $2.10  a 
dozen.  It  carries  a  40  per  cent  profit,  I  must  sell  a 
dozen  in  order  to  make  90  cents  on  this  line.  I  absolutely 
cannot  sell  more  than  a  dozen  a  week,  which  gives  me 
but  90  cents  profit  a  week  for  handling  the  goods.  That 
does  not  take  in  rent,  heat,  light,  overhead  charges,  etc. 

Here  is  a  product,  unadvertised,  that  I  am  buying  for 
$1.25  a  dozen,  I  make  $1.75  profit  on  each  dozen  sold. 
And  you  bet  we  substitute  whenever  it  is  possible.  We  are 
justified  in  doing  it  because  the  profit  is  heavier — and 
we're  in  business  for  the  purpose  of  making  money,  same 
as  your  manufacturers  are.  Before  the  first-named  article 
was  advertised  I  rarely  had  much  call  for  it.  The  sales 
of  the  competitive  advertised  product  have  not  been  influ- 
enced, but  we  substitute  it  wherever  possible,  which  is 
human  nature," 

It  had  never  occurred  to  this  merchant  that  those   12 


21 


I 


EMdm  Cmises  of  Reckless  Advertising  Wasie 


•ales   a  week  would  never  have  been  made  had  it  not 
been  for  the  advertising. 

His  answer  was  that  the  advertising  manufacturer  gave 
the  dealer  no  consideration  in  price-fixing;  that  the  dealer 

could  have  "what  was  left' 


Chapter  11:  Selling  Ammunition  Aimed  in  the  Dark 


»» 


The  Dealers'  Selling  Methods* 

You,  who  are  reading  this,  must  understand  that  this  is 
a  bare,  cold  expose  of  facts — ^nothing  more. 

You  maj  wonder  whether  the  average  dealer  believes  in 
advertising. 

His  view  of  publicity  is  as  a  defensive  force,  rather 
than  as  an  offensive,  aggressive  factor  in  selling  goods. 

The  average  dealer  in  the  medium  sized  town  can  buy 
space  in  local  papers  from  10  cents  to  40  cents  an  inch 

and  he  uses  it  at  various  times.    Not  because  he  considers 
that  he  gets  value  received,  nor  because  it  is  a  good  selling 
method,  but  simply  because  the  "man  across  the  street" 
is  advertising. 
Or  because  the  newspaper  is  a  worthy  local  institution. 

A  Case  in  Point. 

I  had  occasion  to  visit  a  retail  merchant  in  a  New  Eng- 
land town  while  he  was  executing  a  publicity  idea  of  his 
own  in  connection  with  a  local  sale. 

At  a  cost  of  $10.50  he  announced  the  sale  in  his  local 
newspaper.  He  spent  $60  for  "dodgers"  which  went  into 
several  thousand  homes  in  the  town  and  nearby  neigh- 
borhood. 

One  method — newspaper  advertising — ^he  used  because 
of  necessity,  he  felt.  The  "dodgers"  he  considered  his 
chief  mode  for  getting  people  into  his  store.  Which  viv- 
idly illustrates  the  shortsightedness  of  the  retail  dealer 
toward  national  advertising. 

He  couM  see  with  his  own  e^es  the  distribution  of  the 
small  slips  of  paper.  He  saw  people  glance  at  his 
"dodgers**— it  was  "good  adveHising"  But  he  couldn't 
see  the  powerful  machinery  of  newspaper  advertising  at 


work.  He  couldn't  see  people  reading  the  newspapers, 
because  he  wasn't  in  the  homes  to  actually  view,  with  his 
own  eyesy  the  advertisements  doing  their  work. 

So  the  action  of  that  publicity  that  he  could  see  at  work 
was  "good  advertising"— what  he  couldn't  see  didn't  do 
him  any  good,  according  to  his  deductions. 

The  Application  of  This  Truth. 

And  that  largely  accounts  for  his  attitude  toward  national 
advertising.  And  that  is  a  point  that  you  manufacturers, 
you  advertisers,  advertising  managers  and  publishers  must 
consider. 

If  you  don't  make  him  "see"— in  his  mind's  eye— your 
powerful  campaigns  at  work,  your  dealer  promotion  litera- 
ture is  wasted.  ^  The  percentage  of  selling  force  exerted 
upon  the  dealer's  customers — ^the  consumers  of  his  neigh- 
borhood— is  largely  wasted  also. 

For  he  will  not  stock  the  article  unless  he  "sees"  that 
the  goods  he  purchases  are  at  least  partly  sold  when  he 
buys  them.  The  subsequent  dealer -helps  you  mail  him 
follow  the  trail  of  the  dealer -promotion  documents  into 
the  furnace,  or  into  the  barrel  that  contains  the  waste 

How  He  Must  Be  Shown. 

The  very  first  line  of  your  promotion  literature  must 
shock  him  into  the  realization  that  here  is  "his"  propo- 
sition. Make  him  say  to  himself,  "Here  is  a  manufacturer 
who  is  going  to  sell  to  my  customers — people  right  in  this 
community.    It  is  a  good  thing  to  tie  my  store  to." 

Prove  up  your  proposition  in  the  dealer's  business  Ian- 
guage.  Prove  to  him  that  you're  selling  him  goods  that 
are  already  "partly  sold."  For  any  man  will  buy  goods 
that  are  being  sold  for  him. 

Link  a  legitimate  selling  plan  to  your  work  on  the  dealer 
— base  it  on  your  aHicle's  central  selling  idea.  The  results 
over  old  bombastic  methods  will  astonish  you.  Tell  your 
story  in  simple  fashion— without  the  technical  advertising 
expressions  and  technical  business  phrases.  And  tell  it 
quick. 


U 


Hiddm  Causes  qf  ReeMess  Admirtidng  Waste 


Tt.  A.*  and  Toa  aboUsh  a  tremendous  proportion  of  the 

J?e  St  T^  the  writer  in  his  -est-g"  ^^ 
Lusands  of  sneh  dealers  as  yon  are  constantly  addressmg. 

The  Summary  of  Dealer  Conditions. 

Getting  baek  to  the  five  --"'-^-^J^'  o"n  le  sital 
▼estigated,  here  was  the  meat  of  my  report  on 

ation  with  the  dealer:  !,„„•„.»»  laws 

A._"R„le  of  thumb"  methods  are  the  only  b^^ess  «ws 
.  .    fi,-.  .^or«ire  merchant  in  towns  and  cities  ranging 

known  to  the  average  ^"'^"'^'•"\.  .     ,„  /,„«  and  76,000. 
in  population  from  2,000  and  6,000  to  60,000  and  70, 
Vnllv   80  ner  cent  of  those  merchants  today  are  largely 
Ser^t't^  Orthodox   national    ^f verU^^-  :^y   ^ 
^impressed  by  its  value  ^^j/^^J-  ^tiSZSable 

cause  they  have  "»»  ^^«",.*f  J.^^.^'So'"  „f   the  selling 
form.     They  have  not     seen     xne  atuu 

forces  in  powerful  publicity  "^'fP^'K^^    ^^^  ^„i„,  „f  local 
They  cannot  appreciate  in  its  true  sense  ine  vai 

"TaCnteSia  merchandise  but  not  about  demand- 

""Su:?;"S  «.nditions  and  without  efficient  U^h- 
in*  tt^Tconstitute  an  obstacle  to  the  products  avenue 
teCe^'t^r  factory  and  *«  ultimate  consumer  The 
Lnufacturer-s  efforts  ^e  <^fl^:^rn±TAysl 
Urge  number  of  instances  «>«  ™'=P^'°  .  „f  ^^e  dealer 
vertised  products  is  accompbshed  "»  "P™  "'^"^^  ^^^ 
rather  than  through  any  effort  on  ^pa^.     When jo 

•^^TL-TstaitrfSwSnra^-n^^^^^^^^^  . 

'"'?he"^V^-  LbodiedjI  this  ^de  -ay  -u^ 

that  «>hievfment.     That  U  the  '^rV^:^^^"  *!^aTrf 

The  first  nation  J  »dver«ser  to  o^^^T^l^e  tl 
the  situation  and  capably  execute  7*'^,  *°  "^f^^^^nt 
Za  to  distribution  wiU  be  famous  for  the  f^^^'^^^J'    . 

-'t%  I  ttS'  ZlTor^aTfai  of  dealers 
mark,    it  w  emtnenu^  u^u         /  :Jea—ihe  excuse 

to  wkmii  a  if  addre$ied.    The  germ  of  an  laea 

26 


Chapter  II:  Selling  Ammunition  Aimed  in  the  Dark 


for  attempting  to  enlist  the  dealer's  co-operation — i*  almost 
invariably  buried.  Even  should  the  dealer  be  patient 
enough  to  get  down  into  the  average  promotion  circular, 
his  mind  would  be  so  muddled  with  bombastic  statements 
that  the  submerged  central  selling  idea  would  be  untruth  to 
him  and  be  wasted  ammunition.  There  is  a  positive  absence 
of  knowledge  of  the  dealer's  problems.  He  fails  to  grasp 
the  powerful  truths  that  stand  behind  the  meritable  article 
because  he  is  "slobbered"  over  with  things  his  restricted 
business  mind  cannot  grasp. 

Sales  Promotion  Matter  Weak. 

This  treatise  presents  the  cold-blooded,  harsh  facts  as 
I  found  them.  And  I  know  they  will  be  as  equally  aston- 
ishing to  the  average  manufacturer  as  they  were  to  me 
when  I  unearthed  them. 

They  account  for  the  apparent  existence  of  a  multitude 
of  imaginary  business  ills.  In  the  five  propositions  I 
investigated  the  manufacturers,  before  my  tour  of  dealers, 
had  charged  the  difficulties  variously  to  bad  copy,  bad 
merchandising,  hard  times,  changing  seasons,  consumer 
indifference,  too  high  a  price,  bad  weather  and  other  causes 
in  reckless  profusion. 

An  Experiment  Upon  One  Dealer. 

With  my  discoveries  in  mind  I  decided  to  make  a  busi- 
ness experiment  upon  one  dealer  who  operated  in  the  town 
where  I  was  born.  I  visited  him,  found  him  doing  exactly 
as  the  rest  of  this  class  of  merchants — throwing  away  the 
good,  meaty  ideas  that  this  promotion  literature  contained. 

He  had  given  it  little  thought.  He  said  he  was  "flooded" 
with-it  month  after  month — couldn't  "buy  everything," 
he  declared. 

Now  three  of  the  manufacturers  for  whom  I  investi- 
gated produced  articles  that  were  suitable  to  this  dealer's 
business,  so  I  took  special  care  that  he  receive  the  new 
promotion  literature  built  on  the  findings  of  that  investi- 
gation—literature that  teemed  with  live  vibrating  busi- 
ness truths  that  were  understandable  to  the  dealers — ^he 

27 


£ 


HMdm  Causes  of  Reckless  Advertising  Waste 


H 


was  talked  to  in  his  own  language— with  figures  that  re- 
lated to  his  particular  business — he  was  told  what  dealers 
in  his  circumstances  had  done — the  number  of  dozens 
each  had  sold — the  gross  and  net  profits — facts  with  fixed 
bearing  on  the  case  in  point. 

Then  I  had  an  evening's  session  with  my  dealer-friend. 
I  told  liim  something  of  my  investigation.  He  learned 
a  mighty  strong  lesson  in  good  business  practice.  I  laid 
down  the  advantages  of  utilizing  the  promotion  literature 
and  he  promised  me  he  would  utilize  the  ideas  it  gave  him 
— ^that  he  would  endeavor  to  co-operate  with  national  ad- 
vertising— he  agreed  to  test  my  theory. 

The  Result. 

Two  days  ago  I  received  a  letter  from  him.  Here  are 
the  excerpts  which  have  bearing  upon  our  subject: 

"Since  I  have  been  taking  advantage  of  the  ideas  on  ad- 
vertising given  bif  the  makers  of  the  three  articles  you 
told  me  of,  I  have  done  more  than  five  times  the  business  I 
did  previously  on  one  of  them.  On  both  the  others  I  have 
over  doubled  the  amount  of  trade  I  used  to  have  on  them. 
And  I  want  to  thank  you  for  calling  my  attention  to  these 
trade-helps.  My  profits  have  increased  45  per  cent  during 
ike  past  month  because  as  soon  as  I  saw  that  the  three  you 
explained,  were  paying  me,  I  took  advantage  of  other  cir- 
etdmrs  which  came  in.  And  the  ideas  are  making  a  'barrel' 
of  money  for  this  store  today." 

That,  gentlemen,  is  the  verdict  against  aiming  your 
idling  ammunition  in  the  dark.  It  is  good  business  prac- 
tice to  set  your  "wind  gauge"  and  "range"  before  you 


CHAPTER  III 


Campaigns  Crippled  by 
Fallacies  of  Salesmen 


HI 


EARLY  in  the  spring  of  1910  a  shoe  manufacturer, 
well   known   in  the   trade   for   women's   high-grade 
footwear,  decided  he  must  reach  the  consumer.     He 
decided   to  concentrate  on  half   a  dozen  states   Within  a 
radius  of  500  miles  of  the  factory. 

Several  leaflets  addressing  the  consumer  were  written. 
Copy  was  prepared  for  newspapers  in  the  territory.  The 
ads  were  embodied  in  a  folder  for  the  use  of  the  sales- 
force. 

Early  in  March  the  salesmen  were  called  in,  a  ginger 
meeting  held,  and  the  announcement  of  the  advertising 
campaign  climaxed  the  proceedings.  The  manufacturer 
told  his  men  the  advertising  would  probably  mark  a  new 
era  in  the  business — not  only  would  it  secure  better  terms 
for  the  house  from  its  customers,  but  it  would  enable  them 
to  broaden  the  field  of  distribution— to  stock  the  shoes 
in  more  stores.  When  fall  came— the  period  the  campaign 
was  to  run  in  newspapers — demand  would  increase. 

New  dealers  were  to  be  stocked  by  the  salesmen  during 
the  spring.  That  was  the  important  function  of  the  cam- 
paign, at  that  moment. 

Salesmen  Depart  for  Territories. 

Armed  with  the  folders  of  the  advertising,  a  myriad  of 
dealer  helps  to  round  out  the  campaign  and  a  newly-organ- 
ized sales  talk,  the  salesmen  left  for  their  respective  ter- 
ritories. 

New  dealers  was  the  central  theme  of  the  campaign. 
But,  at  the  same  time,  the  old  dealers  must  be  stocked 
more   heavily  than  the   fall  before— for  the   advertising 


Hidden  Catises  of  Reckless  Advertising  Waste 


Chapter  III:  Campaigns  Crippled  by  Fallacies  of  Salesmen 


III 


would  sell  more  shoes  for  them  than  they  had  sold  the  year 
previous. 

It  was  about  a  month  later  that  unrest  at  the  factory 
became  apparent.  And  at  this  point  the  writer  was  called 
upon  to  lend  his  aid. 

No  More  Orders  Than  the  Year  Previous. 

Business  from  old  dealers  seemed  to  be  holding  up  fair- 
ly well,  I  found  upon  interviewing  the  sales  manager. 

But  new  accounts  were  few  and  far  between.  The 
seven  or  eight  new  dealers  who  had  been  added,  ordered 
in  tiny  lots,  as  if  rather  wary  of  the  proposition. 

The  manufacturer  became  panic-stricken  at  the  thought 
of  a  possible  loss.  Fidelity  to  old  dealers  prohibited  the 
canceling  of  the  advertising  campaign,  for  old  dealers  had 
been  more  heavily  stocked  on  the  strength  of  it, 

WUhout  new  dealers,  the  increased  demand  would  re- 
maiii  unanswered — for  the  consumer  would  inquire  for  the 
shoe,  hut  would  not  be  supplied.  That  would  be  a  decid- 
eMy  serious  waste. 

The  situation  looked  dark,  for  the  manufacturer  needed 
at  least  $100,000  new  business  to  offset  the  expenditure 
for  advertising,  which  amounted  to  about  $60,000.  And 
the  business  had  to  be  secured  during  the  spring  selling 
season. 

The  task  given  me  was  to  unearth  the  snag  that  threat- 
ened to  wreck  the  campaign  and  waste  the  major  part 
of  the  manufacturer's  $50,000. 


CCi 


»f 


it* 


*Co¥ering  Territory  Splendidly.' 

'They  are  covering  their  territory  splendidly,"  the  sales 
manager  vouchsafed,  when  I  inquired  into  the  capabilities 

of  the  men. 

He  assured  me  the  whole  territory  was  being  closely 
worked — ^that  the  men  were  doing  their  work  in  a  very 
satisfactory  manner.  His  only  explanation  of  the  absence 
of  new  accounts  was  the  character  of  the  advertising  cam- 
paign, an  especially  stiff  season  of  competition,  business 
conditions  and  other  commercial  bromides  of  like  nature. 


ft 


I  took  Dun's  and  Bradstreet's  lists  and  picked  60  towns 
in  the  territory  at  random.  I  had  a  typewritten  list  drawn 
up  of  all  the  old  dealers  in  those  towns.  I  found  the 
house  was  selling  shoes  to  one-tenth  the  satisfactorily  rated 
dealers  in  their  territories. 

Then  I  secured  a  route  list  of  the  salesmen  responsible 
for  those  60  towns. 


f9 


Time-Table  Shows  "Train  Schedule  Craze.' 

It   had   been  the  manufacturer's  intention  that   I   take 
to  the  road  to  unearth  the  snag. 

But   during   my   discussion   of  the   situation   with    the 


"Salesmen  whose  work  Is  crippled  by 
their  anxiety  to  catch  trains 
out  of  town." 


sales  manager  the  thought  flashed  across  my  mind  that 
each  of  those  salesmen  had  unusually  large  territories — 
too  large,  in  fact,  to  be  closelij  covered,  it  seemed  to  me. 

So  I  secured  time-tables  and  along  with  the  route  lists, 
the  sales  manager  and  I  did  some  rapid  calculating. 


81 


HiMen  Camm  of  Reckless  Advertising  Wasie 


il 


I  emiieavof ed  to  ascertain  the  number  of  hours  for  sales 
wofk  the  men  had  in  each  town. 

The  compuiaiion  showed  thai  the  men  barely  had  time 
to  call  on  their  old  dealers  and  make  their  trains. 

Wiihout  leaving  the  factory,  we  proved  by  simple  arith- 
metic why  new  dealers  were  not  added  to  the  list. 

These  men,  beset  by  the  "train  schedule  craze"  were 
struggling  desperately  to  solely  "cover"  their  territory. 
The  salesmen  positively  did  not  have  time  to  present  their 
entire  organised  sales  talk  to  new  dealers.  So  how  could 
ihey  stocie  'new  dealers? 

How  the  Truth  Was  Confirmed. 

Still  one  loophole  needed  inirestigation. 

Though  the  sales-destruction  of  the  "train  schedule 
craxe"  had  been  mathematically  demonstrated,  the  cal- 
culated result  might  be  disproved  by  practical  conditions. 

The  fact  that  I  had  once  sold  shoes  stood  me  in  good 
stead  in  this  investigation.  I  spent  several  days  in  the 
factory — ^secured  the  technical  schooling  a  salesman  must 
have  on  this  brand  of  footwear. 

To  this  I  hooked  my  advertising  experience  and  took 
one  typical  salesman's  route,  with  a  sample  trunk  of  shoes. 
Also  I  had  copies  of  the  advertisements  that  were  to  run 
and  reproductions  of  the  trade  helps  for  the  dealer. 

First  Visit  to  the  Dealer. 

My  first  visit  was  to  a  Wisconsin  city,  where  the  sales- 
man had  failed  to  interest  new  dealers.  I  started  at  the 
top  of  the  list  of  well-rated  merchants  in  that  city. 
The  first  call  I  made  brought  forth  this  information: 
"Yes,  I've  heard  something  about  their  campaign,  but 
I've  already  bought  my  line  of  women's  shoes.  One  of 
your  men  said  something  about  the  advertising  you're  go- 
ing to  do.  But  I  wouldn't  care  to  do  anything,  anyhow, 
until  next  year." 

The  salesman,  by  a  weak  solicitation,  the  thoroughness 
of  which  had  been  crippled  by  a  fear  that  he  would  miss 
Ms  train,  had  spoiled  the  prospect. 


Chapter  III:  Campaigns  Crippled  by  Fallacies  of  Salesmen 

I  talked  with  the  dealer  fifteen  minutes — simply  cited 
the  remarkable  selling  success  the  shoe  had  accomplished 
for  other  dealers,  naming  some  of  them  close  to  this  mer- 
chant's city.  I  told  him  all  this  had  been  accomplished 
without  the  shoe  being  pushed  by  advertising,  with  scarce- 
ly any  selling  efi'ort  whatever  on  the  part  of  dealers  or 
makers. 

It  was  purely  a  discussion  between  two  business  men. 
I  made  no  effort  to  get  the  order  that  morning,  telling  the 
dealer  I  would  see  him  about  4  o'clock  that  afternoon. 

My  predecessor's  routing  showed  he  had  had  to  leave 
town  at  2  p.  m.  to  make  the  next  point  on  his  route. 

At  4  o'clock  sharp  I  called  on  my  man.  He  furnished 
the  "wedge"  himself. 

*'How  much  did  you  say  this  merchant  sold 

last  fall?"  was  his  greeting.  The  few  minutes'  talk  in 
the  morning  had  set  him  thinking.  He  had  compared  his 
field  to  that  of  the  nearby  dealer  and  had  superficially 
calculated  his  probable  profits  in  his  field. 

The  Clincher. 

"Yes,  but  that  was  a  year  ago.     This  fall  the 


dealer's  business  will  probably  double.  We're  going  to 
advertise  in  his  own  newspapers.  That  business  last  fall, 
of  course,  was  done  without  any  pushing — ^just  from  peo- 
ple knowing  the  shoe  from  the  season  before  and  recom- 
mending it  to  her  friends,  etc.,"  was  my  reply. 

I  let  that  sink  in  and  waded  through  a  technical  de- 
scription of  the  shoe.  The  discussion  of  selling  successes 
had  interested  this  man  and  I  secured  his  promise  to  take 
dinner  with  me  at  the  hotel. 

After  dinner  I  discussed  shoe  values  with  him  and 
worked  into  a  description  of  the  shoes  I  was  selling,  which 
I  backed  up  by  showing  him  actual  samples  from  my  sam- 
ple trunk. 

That  disposed  of  the  talk  on  "goods." 
"By  the  way,"  said  the  dealer,  "I'd  like  to  have  yon 
explain  about  your  advertising  in  this  city."    Which  I  did. 
And  in  fifteen  minutes  his  name  was  on  the  dotted  line. 


U 


Hidden  Causes  of  Reckless  Advertising  Waste 


Disregarded  Train  Schedules. 

I  had  disregarded  trains. 

It  was  mtf  object  to  stick  to  the  fort  as  long  as  a  chance 
of  sdes  ea!isted,  I  consulted  time-tables  after  orders  were 
signed. 

The  net  of  li  was  that  a  traveling  SALESMAN  is  more 
productive  than  a  TRAVELING  salesman. 

In  practically  every  call  the  bogey  of  the  "train  sched- 
ule craze"  denoted  its  presence  during  the  call  by  the 
salesman.  He  had  given  each  of  the  dealers  a  smattering 
knowledge  that  something  was  "in  the  air"  in  connection 
with  shoe  advertising. 

More  sales  effectiveness  conld  have  been  achieved  by 

letter. 

When  the  "train  schedule  craze"  had  been  established 
as  the  snag  in  the  path  toward  a  large  number  of  new 
accounts^ — ^by  actual  sales  of  the  shoes  and  the  campaign 
in  75  per  cent  of  the  towns  I  visited — I  returned  to  the 
factory. 

The  Result. 

With  valuable  time  already  gone,  the  salesmen  were 
ordered  to  drop  everything  and  return  to  the  factory. 

They  were  told  of  the  experiment,  the  fact  being  made 
clearly  plain  to  them  that  they  were  not  being  criticized — 
they  were  shown  that  a  mistaken  policy  of  the  house  was 
at  fault. 

The  information  was  welcomed  by  them.  They  were 
as  anxious  to  make  good  as  the  house  was  to  have  them 
do  so.  Enthusiastically,  one  salesman  who  was  carried 
away  with  the  spirit  of  the  new  enlightenment,  proposed 
that  the  sales  organization  adopt  this  slogan: 

"AFTER  his  name  is  on  the  dotted  line,  look  up  trains," 

Then  the  men  went  back  to  the  road,  saturated  with 
intensive  salesmanship.  Promotion  documents  were  sent 
out  to  al  prospective  dealers  and  were  timed  in  com- 
pliance with  advice  from  the  salesman — so  to  get  there 
just  ahead  of  him,  wherever  feasible. 


SI 


Chapter  III:  Campaigns  Crippled  by  Fallacies  of  Salesmen 

A  verif  strict  report  system  was  installed,  so  as  to  keep 
a  direct  line  on  the  number  of  new  dealers  called  on  each 
day.  Occasionally  neatly  printed  cards  were  mailed  to  the 
men  bearing  the  adopted  slogan :  "AFTER  his  name  is  on 
the  dotted  line,  look  up  trains." 

Thirty  days  demonstrated  the  principle  in  hard  coin  of 
the  realm. 

An  increase  in  new  dealers,  such  as  the  firm  had  never 
known  before,  resulted  within  a  month. 

Approximately  $197,000  worth  of  business  was  on  the 
books  before  the  manufacturer  invested  a  penny  of  the 
$60,000  in  newspaper  advertising. 

Cause  of  Reckless  Waste. 

Yet  had  the  "train  schedule  craze"  remained  undiscov- 
ered this  advertiser  stood  to  lose  nearly  $50,000,  for  his 
additional  selling  effort  would  have  been  practically  nil 
without  equal  expansion  among  dealers— without  enlarge 
ing  the  avenue  of  distribution  in  proportion  to  the  en- 
largement of  selling  expense,  which  the  $50,000  campaign 
constituted. 

The  fall  found  the  campaign  a  healthy  success  and  re- 
sulted in  plans  for  the  expansion  of  the  manufacturer's 
appropriation. 

Waste  of  selling  effort  had  been  abolished  by  securing 
distribution— by  getting  the  dealers  to  pledge  themselves 
beforehand  to  answer  the  prospective  demand. 

A  Prevalent  Idea  Among  Salesmen. 

With  the  route  list  laid  out  and  often  dated  by  sales- 
managers,  lies  the  responsibility  for  the  craze  to  keep 
pace  with  time-tables. 

Many  salesmen  and  their  chiefs  are  dominated  by  the 
jdea  that  when  they  are  given  a  territory  to  cover  they 
feel  that  at  all  hazards  they  must  cover  their  section  of 
the  country. 

Sales  become  secondary  then. 

If  they  are  scheduled  for  Poughkeepsie  today  and  Buf- 


1 1 

ll 


35 


I 


I 


i 


Hidden  Canms  of  Reckless  Advertising  Waste 

falo  tomorrow,  some  salesmen  feel  they  must  make  some 
sacrifice  of  trade  in  sight  in  Poughkeepsie,  if  necessary, 
to  make  the  train  for  Buffalo. 

They  forget  that  orders  are  orders  and  that  the  best 
place  to  be  is  where  the  orders  can  be  secured.  Likewise,  to 
«>me  «Je«nen,  if  they  .re  np  against  it  for  sales,  it  doesn't 
matter  how  far  they  travel,  if  the  result  at  the  end  of  the 
day  is  still  «5ro. 

Which  is  one  reason  we  call  some  salesmen  "order- 
takers," 

The  Napoleon  of  saiesmanship  masters  today's  trade 
battleground  instead  of  going  on   to  new   Waterloos   to- 

WmVW  f  w»wm 

A  Great  Salesmanager's  Creed. 

Recently  I  had  the  opportunity  of  talking  with  a  man 
whom  I  consider  a  great  salesmanager. 

The  talk  happened  to  hit  upon  the  train  schedule  craze. 
Here  was  his  gospel  on  this  subject: 

"I  g<it  this  line  on  my  men  from  an  experience  with  one 
salesman  who  traveled  a  month  without  taking  an  order 
from  the  dealers.  His  answer  was  that  he  was  covering 
his  territory.  I  made  it  plain  to  him  that  the  only  basis 
on  which  he  was  paid  was  for  orders  taken.  If  he  could 
gel  one  order  by  working  a  week  in  one  town  he  had  done 
more  good  for  the  factory  than  working  a  week  without 
orders,  traveling  a  territory  and  increasing  traveling  ex- 
penses, without  any  returns. 

"Today  my  salesmen  are  taught  to  forget  itinerary  and 
to  forget  territory.  They  are  taught  to  realize  that  the 
only  obligidion  they  hatrn  is  to  conquer  today's  territory 
today.  If  they  can't  seU  one  dealer  they  are  to  sell  another. 
If  they  can^  sell  any  dealer  they  are  to  go  out  in  the 
country  and  .ell  the  good,  to  farmer.,  taking  the  order 
and  ^Uing  U  through  the  dealer," 

The  salesmanager  of  a  watch  company  told  me  that 
he  had  an  eiperi^e  once  where  he  had  I^en  working  all 
the  afternoon  on  a  dealer  but  had  to  hurry  his  closing  <^gtt- 
ments  in  order  to  catch  a  train. 


Chapter  III:  Campaigns  Crippled  by  Fallacies  of  Salesmen 

Late  Train — Took  Order.  * 

When  he  got  to  the  station  he  found  that  his  train  was 
an  hour  and  a  half  late,  so  he  walked  back  to  the  jeweler's 
store,  told  him  that  he  wasn't  satisfied  with  the  way  he 
had  left  the  deal  and  in  the  hour  and  a  half  remaininir 
got  a  good  order. 

This  taught  him  the  lesson  that  many  a  sale  is  lost  in  a 
hurry  to  catch  the  train  and  that  the  salesman  who  goes 
into  the  dealer's  store  with  his  time  table  in  one  pocket, 
his  order  book  in  the  other  and  his  watch  in  another  is 
dead  sure  to  have  less  use  for  the  pocket  with  the  order 
book  in  it, 

Salesmanagers  tell  me  that  the  craze  to  keep  up  with 
the  schedule  is  responsible  for  the  reputation  that  the  men 
of  many  houses  have  of  being  order  takers  instead  of 
salesmen. 

That  the  short  time  allotted  for  each  town  is  divided  by 
the  number  of  calls  to  be  made  means  that  the  calls  with 
each  dealer  are  so  short  that  a  complete  solicitation  can- 
not be  made  of  the  dealers  called  upon  and  consequently 
instead  of  the  dealer  being  made  a  convert  to  principles 
and  policy  and  merchandising  ideas  the  whole  visit  centers 
on  how  much  of  a  given  piece  of  merchandise  he  can  be 
induced  to  buy  in  the  few  minutes  available  for  discussion. 

A  Critical  Business  Condition. 

Manufacturers  complain  that  they  can't  get  special  at- 
tention from  jobbers'  salesmen  for  their  products. 

Figure  out  on  a  mathematical  basis  what  a  jobber's  sales- 
man has  to  do,  the  number  of  items  he  has  to  sell,  the 
number  of  department  heads  who  are  looking  to  him  for 
results  and  it  is  plainly  apparent  that  it  is  practically 
impossible  to  claim  the  salesman's  attention  for  some  new 
article  that  requires  discussion  and  perhaps  an  elaborate 
presentation  of  selling  talk  in  order  to  secure  the  desired 
sale. 

This  has  in  some  cases  been  remedied  by  specialty  men 
calling  on  the  trade  with  the  regular  salesman. 

S7 


Jl        •»"■■"■■■ 


H'iMm  Caum9  of  Reckless  Advertising  WaMe 


II 


Yet  Hie  general  complaint  is  that  it  doesn't  pay  to  have 
the  ipccialty  salesman  call  with  the  general  salesman  for 
the  reason  that  while  the  specialty  salesman  is  busy  the 
fcgnlar  saleman  is  pacing  up  and  down  the  floor  waiting 
for  an  opportunity  to  get  the  dealer  with  his  general  line 
on  which  his  bread  and  butter  depends. 

So,  what  at  first  glance  looks  like  a  trifling  thing  be- 
comes a  question  of  critical  importance. 

The  meetiiig  of  train  schedules  causes  the  salesman  to 
work  with  undue  haste. 

Haste  does  away  with  deliberate  discussion  necessary 

fo  close  big  deals. 

How  Talkiiig  Goods  Wrecked  a  Campaign. 

It  is  usually  the  initial  advertising  campaign  of  the 
manufacturer  which  feels  most  seriously  the  fallacies  of 
the  salesman  adhering  to  wrong  methods. 

Not  long  ago  a  manufacturer  of  a  household  product, 
selling  through  dealers,  undertook  his  first  campaign  to 
stimulate  sales  of  the  product.  Like  many  non-advertis- 
ing manufacturers,  chief  demand  for  the  product  was 
focused  on  a  territory  within  a  few  hundred  miles*  radius 
of  the  factory. 

The  aim  was  to  stock  new  dealers  on  the  strength  of  the 
dealer's  promotion  circular  which  had  been  written  in  the 
advertising  department  and  which  each  salesman  carried. 
A  copy  was  always  left  with  the  prospective  dealer,  if  the 
salesman  failed  to  land  the  order. 

The  deider  promotion  work  was  a  flat  failure.  Few  new 
dtden  were  secured.  An  insignificant  increase  in  sales 
resulted  when  the  campaign  was  run.  Yet  the  manufac- 
turer was  hopeful.  He  realized  that  he  probably  created 
much  heavier  demand  than  the  factory  felt,  for  much  of 
gf — h^cause  of  lack  of  new  dealers — was  unanswered. 

Goes  Deeply  Into  Subject. 

Still  the  manufacturer  felt  his  problem  was  simply  new 
dealers.     How  was  he  to  get  them?     Optimistically  he 

planned  mulher  campaign  of  equal  proportions. 

tt 


Chapter  III:  Campaigns  Crippled  by  Fallacies  of  Salesmen 

The  writer  was  then  called  into  consultation. 

The  problem  was  submitted.  1  went  out  on  the  road 
with  a  salesman  to  see  if  the  flaw  could  be  located  in  the 
solicitation  of  dealers. 

The  salesman,  instead  of  jumping  into  the  subject  of 
his  visit,  talked  weather  first.  This  usually  gave  the  dealer 
an  opportunity  to  be  pessimistic — fortified  him  against 
salesmanship. 

Then  the  salesman  plunged  into  a  lengthy  technical  dis" 
cussion  of  goods — well  executed.  Following  this  came  a 
smattering  story  of  the  advertising  campaign  that  was  to 
be  launched.    This  the  salesman  made  incidental. 

In  every  visit  he  absolutely  failed  to  drive  home  the 
point  that  the  dealer  had  the  opportunity  to  buy  goods  that 
the  manufacturer  was  selling  for  him. 

There  was  the  flaw! 

Too  much  uninteresting  talk  on  goods — too  little  selling 
talk. 

Reorganization  of  Dealer  Solicitation. 

Returning  to  the  factory  I  dictated  a  solicitation  that 
seemed  adequate.  The  sales  manager,  advertising  man- 
ager and  manufacturer  reinforced  it  and  amplified  it  from 
their  knowledge  of  trade  conditions.  The  salesmen's 
solicitation  methods  were  completely  reversed. 

First,  the  salesman  was  to  omit  weather  and  business 
conditions.  Then  he  must  dig  right  into  the  manner  in 
which  the  manufacturer  was  re-selling  the  goods  for  the 
dealer.  Then  he  must  tie-up  his  talk  by  telling  the  central 
feature  of  the  goods  that  fvould  make  the  consumer  want 
them — in  other  words,  a  description  that  was  tangent  to 
the  consumer's  interest. 

Then  was  to  follow  a  quick  summary  and  the  order. 

Typewritten  copies  of  the  new  skeleton  of  the  solicita- 
tion were  furnished  each  salesman  at  the  meeting  that 
preceded  the  invasion  of  their  respective  territories. 

"Tell  the  story  in  your  own  words/*  was  the  salesman- 
ager's  advice.  "But  hold  rigidly  to  the  thoughts  embodied 
in  the  new  solicitation — and  to  their  sequence.*' 

39 


1  ( 


i  I 


Hidden  Causes  of  Reckless  Advertising  Waste 


Results  Prove  the  Plan's  Worth. 

a  J'^'lS^/'i'^T-^^^  ^''  ^^'  '^'^^^'     They  had 
qnit    making      goods      their   chief   talking  point      They 

talked    goods  that  we're  selling  for  vou  " 

78  C  T;  %i^  t"}'"  •"  '*"'•  l<'giti^''te  te^toL  to 

If  r^r;  .I5^*^A.i^:  '*-  '^-  '^^'^^  '•»  P^-' 

the  dealer  felt  was  built  for  wT^*'      Proposition  that 
ord^rJkeT^rr   ^'^^   '"'  ""=    ^""""'^^   of  "alesmen- 

as  an  additional  talking  point  were  thev  r,oU^].ll^ 
loiowledue  of  how  to  ^iJ\A  tl  '^^^f}'^fy  Possessed  of  the 

«trength?!and  hTw  to^tW^^^  TT^ 

bred  of  reigning  canditiol  ^""  '^  '""«'  '^'  "^ 


CHAPTER  IV 


The  Internal  Feud 


A  TEXTILE  manufacturer,  during  the  fall  of  1910,  was 
giving  deep  thought  to   his  third  year   of  advertis- 
'ing- 

His  campaigns  he  knew  were  successful,  for  the  busi- 
ness being  done  by  old  dealers  showed  a  healthy  increase. 
At  the  end  of  his  fiscal  year  in  1909  his  books  showed 
2,731  dealers  were  handling  his  products. 

With  2,752  dealers  at  the  end  of  his  fiscal  year  in  1910, 
fully  $100,000  more  goods  had  been  sold  than  during 
1909.  This  despite  the  fact  that  his  dealer  organiza- 
tion had  only  21  new  additions. 

This,  he  knew,  attested  to  the  value  of  his  advertising. 
It  demonstrated  to  him  that  the  consumer  was  buying  his 
product.  Its  trade-mark  was  being  standardized.  The 
manufacturer  was  happy. 

Magazine  Man  Disrupts  the  Mirage. 

But  it  remained  for  a  "special"  representing  a  women's 
publication,  which  had  a  good  dealer  proposition  to 
ofiFer  makers  of  textiles,  to  shatter  the  manufacturer's 
happiness.  The  magazine  man  had  obtained  an  interview 
with  the  manufacturer,  for  he  wanted  the  business  for  his 
publication.  The  discussion  turned  to  dealers.  The  man- 
ufacturer told  his  reasons  for  happiness. 

"With  practically  the  same  dealers  that  we  had  a  year 
ago,"  he  said,  "we  have  done  $100,000  bigger  business. 
I  say  that's  remarkable." 

"What!  No  increase  in  your  dealer  organization!  And 
$100,000  increase  in  business.  Your  dealers  for  1910 
ought  to  show  at  least  a  20  per  cent  increase.  You  ve 
sent  that  many  more  consumers  to  the  dealers  you  already 
have,"  the  magazine  man  replied. 


; 


lii 


f 


MiMm  Causes  of  Reckless  Advertising  Waste 


J 


"Why  Haven't  I  More  Dealers?" 

TMt  iet  the  manufacturer  to  thinking. 

The  theory  certainly  was  plausible.  He  needed  more 
dealeri.  His  consumer  business  warranted  it  It  was  up 
to  the  salesmen,  he  was  positive. 

A  meeting  of  the  sales  organization  was  scheduled  to 
lake  place  within  a  few  days  and  then  he  would  bring 
the  matter  up. 

The  day  of  the  meeting  came.  A  dozen  salesmen  had 
assembled.  The  writer  happened  to  be  booked  for  a  talk 
before  the  organization. 

The  manufacturer  opened  the  session  by  complimenting 
the  salesmen  and  the  organization  upon  the  handsome 
increase  in  sales.  When  the  matter  of  dealers  was  reached 
in  the  course  of  his  talk  he  called  attention  to  lack  of  new 
ones— a  condition  that  must  be  remedied  with  the  coming 
year,  he  stated. 

The  salesmanager  in  his  talk  delicately  inferred  that 
the  lack  of  new  dealers  was  probably  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  house's  advertising  had  not  yet  reached  a  point  where 
it  was  possible  to  lay  heavy  stress  upon  it  in  business  dis- 
cussions with  prospective  customers. 

An  Incident  of  the  Meeting. 

Shortly  before  the  salesmen  adjourned  a  general  mer- 
chandising discussion  arose.  A  salesman  incidentally  told 
of  a  merchandising  idea  that  the  advertising  manager 
had  hit  upon  and  had  discussed  with  him. 

The  suggestion  of  the  advertising  manager  was  to  pre- 
sent consumers  with  a  small,  useful  article  made  of  the 
leading  textile,  the  concern  manufactured.  This  could 
easily  be  done  from  the  natural  waste  in  cutting  the  prod- 
uct. The  article  was  to  answer  advertising  inquiries  and 
be  passed  out  over  the  dealer*s  counters  to  the  latter's  cus- 
tomers. 

I  was  sitting  opposite  the  salesmanager  and  noted  his 
itarlled   look  when  the   factory  superintendent  produced 


Chapter  IV:  The  Internal  Fued 


an  article  he  had  created  to  match  the  advertising  man- 
ager's ideas. 

As  the  article  was  being  passed  around,  the  salesman- 
ager s  face  turned  red.  He  asked  the  factory  superin- 
tendent why  he  hadn't  spoken  of  it  to  him— so  he  could 
judge  its  value  before  any  work  had  been  done  on  the 
strength  of  the  idea. 

The  incident  impressed  itself  upon  my  mind.  I  thought 
of  it  for  days  afterward. 

Manufacturer  Hunts  for  New  Dealers. 

A  month  after  the  salesmen  had  adjourned  their  meet- 
mg,  the  manufacturer  paid  me  a  personal  call. 

"We  have  made  scarcely  a  single  stride  toward  getting 
new  dealers  It  looks  now  as  though  our  dealer  organ- 
ization  would  not  even  make  the  increase  that  occurred 
last  year,  the  manufacturer  told  the  writer.  "Now  if 
you  can  demonstrate  to  me  the  faults  of  my  salesmen, 
you  will  earn  my  everlasting  gratitude." 

This  concern  was  wasting  one  of  the  most  valuable  of 
advertismg  forces— its  value  in  stocking  new  dealers. 

True,  the  advertising  was  serving  its  primary  purpose 
of  selling  goods  to  the  consumer— but  apparently  one 
potent  feature,  its  ability  to  get  the  goods  on  new  dealers' 
shelves,  was  being  overlooked  either  by  the  organization 
or  by  the  salesmen  themselves. 

That  was  the  analysis  of  the  situation. 

In  this  connection  the  inferential  remark  of  the  sales- 
manager  flashed  across  my  mind. 

The  First  Step  Toward  the  Solution. 

In  my  personal  opinion,"  I  told  the  manufacturer, 
your  sales  and  advertising  departments  are  not  welded 
into  a  single  unit.  Your  advertising  and  personal  sales- 
manship, apparently,  are  not  securely  linked.  The  ad- 
vertising copy  and  your  salesmen's  solicitation,  I  judge 
from  what  I  heard,  are  not  united  when  visiting  prospec- 
tive dealers. 


IS 


««i 


«( 


I 


Mmm  Catms  0/  Reckless  AdverHsing  Waste 


I 


I    r 


"llirt  is  my  view.    Now  let's  prove  it,  riirht  or  wronir  " 
We  Tisit,^  two  prospective  d^ers  that  the  m^fL 
tara  knew  his  salesmen  were  calling  upon. 

^  previoo.  advertising,  had  hS  "o"e  Tr't^o'^J?  Z 
^^tJe,  l«t  hadn't  thought  much  about  putt^tt  to 

wi"^^^ti'"~rK'"^  '  '^'^  "«*«•    The  dealer, 

J^  ^lU^^r  *''  advertising.    They  knew  the  goods 

Tsn^^hk       T  "°*  """  a-  to  how  they  would  sell. 

ciJ  S^^flr"^  °^*",  *"  "°»»°f«*,«',  laid  espe- 
mlw^ht  on  the  inf erentml  remarks  made  by  the  sales- 

5^Xn  fti  ••»'"', ^'  •"'^^^"-K  manager  had  gone 
wiead  on  the  sample"  proposition,  noted  above,  without 
d«c^i„g  it,  value  with  the  salesm^mager  or^von'dse 

aJZlf  i?r-J«t'»  ^  plain-  Both  your  Llesi^u: 
«gM  and  adverhsing  manager  are  ambitious  men-an«ons 
to  boost  the  house's  sales.  And  thev  are  5nT«.  ^" 
to  W  proper  credit  awarded  ftSeTalisTwe^^S! 
in  that  endeavor  they  have  overstepped  each  other 
nere  »  friction  between  them.  Serious  friction  To  tte 
W  P«         ^""!  ^^'^  organisation  today  should   be  at 

™ 'f '  jt.™*  "»ade  scarcely  any  progress  at  all. 

mternal  fend  m  the  organisation  upon  which  you  depend 
for  the  sale  of  yoor  goods."  "cpena 

Preparing  for  a  New  Order  of  Things 

..  "^L^f  ""°'*  "^  ^'^  f^'"  I  toW  the  manufaJturer 
your  two  departments  are  working  at  conflicting  angles.    ' 
itour  sales  department,  apparenUy,  has  not  oermittpd 
yon,  «lverUring  department  to  send  "Suitable  itSi^ 
teUxng  of  your  selling  eiforts-to  prospects. 

Tk,y  «^  not  cooperating.    There  is  no  harmony.   And 
you  re  sunply  got  to  pull  together.    The  advertising  copy 


ChajOer  IV:  The  Internal  Feud 


) 


in  publications  has  automatically  sent  the  consumer  to  buy 
the  goods.  But  the  consumer  has  found  those  goods  only 
on  the  counter  of  your  old  dealers.  You've  lost  a  biir 
volume  of  sales." 

The  truth  dawned  upon  the  manufacturer.  He  was 
so  close  to  his  own  organization  that  he  had  been  unable 
to  observe  the  internal  feud  that  slowly  developed  be- 
tween two  ambitious  men. 

Returning  to  the  factory  he  hunted  for  an  appropriate 
means  of  putting  an  end  to  the  friction. 

He  invited  the  sales  and  advertising  managers  to  dine 
with  him  at  his  home.  Then  he  told  them  bluntly  the 
difficulty  and  laid  down  his  suggestion  for  a  solution.  He 
held  forth  the  prospect  of  interests  in  the  business  for 
both,  providing  sales  passed  a  certain  point  for  that  year. 
"If  we  are  to  do  that  amount  of  business/'  the  president 
said,  there  must  be  some  of  the  sUckest  team  work  be- 
tween the  advertising  and  sales  departments  that  both 
you  men  are  capable  of." 

New  Line  of  Development  Planned. 

The  president  refused  to  listen  to  stories  of  certain  con- 
ditions.      We  ve  wiped  those  off  the  books,"  he  warned. 
Now  let  s  get  down  to  business." 

Right  then  and  there  a  new  order  of  things  was  planned 
out.  A  complete  advertising  servicq  for  dealers  was  formu- 
lated. Dealer  literature  was  to  go  out  to  prospects  at 
regular  intervals.  Folders  of  the  advertising  were  to  be 
31  5^  ^?^^7^.«^lesman  and  were  to  form  the  opening 
wedge  of  sohcitations.  * 

The  talk  on  goods  was  to  connect  up  with  the  consumer- 
copy,  thus  enhancing  the  significance  of  the  selling  argu- 
ment presented  by  salesmen  to  the  dealers. 
«t  Ji!f  ^f^^'^^'^^'SeT  was  to  make  suggestions  for  the  con- 
^rL  -TT^'  1  ^^*^  advertising  manager  was  to  co- 
operate with  the  salesmen  and  with  the  salesmanager. 

m/^%°'^?''^^1"'*^''  completely  revised  the  house's  seU- 
mg  policy  in  addressing  the  retail  merchant— and  with  that 


46 


'I 


( 


Hidden  Causes  of  Reckless  Advetrtising  Waste 

reirisioii  came  the  end  of  the  senseless  advertising  waste 
as  well  as  the  equally  senseless  internal  friction. 

Salesmen  Preach  New  Doctrines. 

Most  of  this  concern's  business  was  done  within  a  radius 
of  600  miles  of  the  factory.  Telegrams  called  the  sales- 
men back  to  the  house  for  a  week-end  meeting. 

The  new  policies  were  laid  down  by  the  president  of 
the  concern.  The  salesmanager  had  a  new  typewritten 
skeleton  of  solicitation^  which  embraced  the  ideas  set  forth 
by  the  manufacturer,  advertising  manager  and  himself. 
These  were  read  to  the  salesmen — stress  laid  on  each  point 
— ^and  each  man  was  given  a  copy  of  the  talk  to  thorough- 
ly digest. 

Then  the  new  order  of  things  commenced  to  operate. 

Plans  of  the  advertising  and  sales  department  dove- 
tailed perfectly. 

Each  went  the  limit  toward  the  mutual  goal — orders. 

The  old  enmity  was  forgotten. 

Result  of  the  Season's  Work. 

At  the  end  of  the  consumer  selling  season^  the  presi- 
dent of  the  textile  house  drew  a  trial  balance  to  confirm 
his  assumption  that  the  harmony  idea  was  paying  him  a 
profit. 

With  exactly  the  same  advertising  investment  of  the 
year  previous  he  had  added  18  per  cent  to  his  dealer  or- 
iranization. 

The  total  sales  of  goods  showed  an  increase  of  approxi- 
mately $160,000  over  the  gross  volume  of  business  of  the 
jwa  previous. 


1 
f 

il 

I 

I 


CHAPTER  V 


Resistance  in  the  Shipping 
Department 


A  LARGE  mail-order  institution  had  been  enjoying  the 
pleasurable  condition  of  having  96   per  cent  of  its 
^  sales  stick. 

That  is  only  4  per  cent  of  all  customers  to  whom  sales 
were  made  took  advantage  of  the  money-back  guarantee 
that  forms  one  of  the  policies  of  every  mail-order  house. 

One  day  last  winter  a  sales  sheet  for  the  second  preced- 
ing month  was  drawn  and  it  was  found  that  there  was 
an  11  per  cent  difference  between  the  gross  sales  and  the 
number  of  sales  that  were  made  to  stick. 

The  balance  showed  that  only  89  per  cent  of  the  goods 
were  staying  sold — a  truly  alarming  state  of  affairs. 

The  usual  means  of  remedying  a  drop  in  the  percentage 
of  sales  that  stuck  was  a  gingering  up  of  "claim  corre- 
spondents" and  a  shake-up  in  the  advertising  department, 
for  there  the  letters  were  written  that  preceded  C.  O.  D. 
orders  and  which  were  calculated  to  make  the  recipient 
receive  the  goods  and  pay  the  transportation  companies 
for  them. 

Another  month  passed  and  in  the  course  of  events  the 
sales  sheet  reached  the  head  of  the  concern. 

It  showed  another  drop  of  2  per  cent,  bringing  the  vol- 
ume of  returned  goods  up  to  18  per  cent  of  the  gross  sales, 
which  ran  up  into  millions  of  dollars  each  year. 

This  situation  called  for  quick,  concerted  action. 

Conditions  in  the  Mail-Order  Business. 

There  are  a  number  of  pertinent  facts  to  be  remembered 
in  connection  with  the  conduct  of  a  direct-selling  business. 

iT 


4« 


I 


Hidden  Cautes  of  Recklesa  Adeertising  Waste 


In  the  first  place  the  average  ratio  of  sales  to  inquiries 
is  abont  16  per  cent.  Selling  expense  with  houses  dis- 
posing of  general  lines  of  merchandise  is  authoritatively 

plji€ed  in  the  neighborliood  of  20  per  cent. 

It  is  a  generally  recognized  fact  in  the  mail-order  busi- 
ness that  it  is  dangerous  to  attempt  to  sell  indiyidual  lines 
of  merchandise,  the  cost  price  of  which  is  more  than  one- 
'Ihlrd  the  selling  price. 

That  is  one  of  the  axioms  of  most  mail-order  institutions, 
I  believe,  in  indlyidual  lines. 

The  expense  of  selling  must  be  constantly  watched.  In 
some  mail-order  businesses,  with  which  I  am  familiar, 
there  is  general  shake-up  in  selling  departments  whenever 
the  ratio  of  salts  to  inquiries  falls  below  a  certain  mark, 
for  then  the  danger  mark  is  being  approached.  All  this 
necessitates  the  careful  watching  of  experts. 

But  in  most  mailorder  institutions  that  hare  eome  under 
my  observation,  returned  goods  are  rarely  a  serious  con- 
dition. In  specialized  lines  you  will  find  the  returns  as 
low  as  one-half  of  1  per  cent,  rarely  exceeding  2  per  cent. 

These  are  the  general  conditions  in  direct-selling  and 
are  important  in  connection  with  the  danger  faced  by  the 
.Institution  told  of  in  this  article. 

Hunt  for  Clue  to  the  Mystery. 

A  careful  investigation  of  the  returned  goods  for  an 
entire  week  was  made  by  the  president  himself,  day  by 
day.     He  found  nothing  to  give  him  a  clue  to  the  case. 

The  goods  were  in  fair  condition,  even  after  the  double 
journey. 

This  demonstrated  that  a  peculiar  situation  existed 
somewhere. 

It  was  at  this  point  that  the  writer  entered  into  the  mys- 
tery— for  by  that  time  the  problem  was  nothing  short  of 
.  deep  mysLry  to  the  men  whose  money  had  been  sunk 
in  the  business. 

One  afternoon  the  president  went  over  the  entire  prop- 
osition with  me  in  every  detail.     We  inspected  returned 

48 


Chapter  V:  Resistance  in  the  Shipping  Department 


I 


iiiiiita 


goods.  We  went  over  the  correspondence.  We  carefully 
analyzed  the  letters  that  were  calculated  to  make  sales 
stick.  Not  a  single  detail  that  might  furnish  a  clue  was 
overlooked. 

We  decided  to  carry  the  case  back  to  the  consumers  who 
had  returned  the  goods. 

Two  hundred  names  were  selected  at  random.  A  care- 
fully-prepared form  letter,  enclosing  a  stamped  return 
envelope,  was  mailed  to  the  200  apparently  dissatisfied 
customers. 

It  went  into  detail  in  an  effort  to  get  a  detailed  explana- 
tion from  the  ex-customer  as  to  why  he  or  she  had  so 
emphatically  insisted  on  the  return  of  their  money  on  the 
grounds  that  the  goods  were  not  up  to  standard. 

The  letter  was  very  courteous.  It  frankly  stated  that 
for  the  good  of  the  business  a  candid  answer  was  desired. 
Explicit  instruction  was  given  the  party  addressed  as  to 
just  what  points  were  wanted. 

The  same  evening  I  hit  upon  an  idea  for  getting  the 
meat  of  the  subject  by  writing  a  dozen  letters  from  my 
home,  for  I  live  in  a  suburb  adjoining  a  farming  com- 
munity and  my  postoffice  address  could  easily  be  mistaken 
for  that  of  a  buyer  of  mail-order  articles. 

Business  Detective  Sends  Letter. 

I  asked  these  people  who  had  returned  goods  what  sort 
of  a  house  they  believed  the  mail-order  institution  to  be. 
Would  they  advise  me  to  buy  furniture  there?  If  they 
had  ever  bought  from  them,  what  kind  of  goods  had  they 
received.?  Did  they  have  any  difficulty  in  getting  refunds, 
if  they  were  ever  dissatisfied.?  A  stamp  was  enclosed  for 
reply, 

A  week  went  by  before  we  began  to  get  any  considerable 
quantity  of  answers  to  either  letter. 

But  there  was  little  encouragement  toward  a  solution  in 
the  missives  that  returned.  The  hue  and  cry  in  those 
replying  to  the  mail-order  house's  letter  was  generally 
about  as  follows: 


49 


I 


Hidden  Causes  of  Reckless  Advertising  Waste 


"You  didn't  do  as  you  represented  in  your  catalog.  The 
articles  I  got  were  nothing  like  the  way  they  were  repre- 
sented in  the  catalog.  So  I  sent  them  back,  because  I  was 
disappointed  in  not  getting  what  I  expected." 

To  my  personal  letter  the  replies  echoed  antagonism 
toward  the  institution.  Each  reply  stated  that  lately  the 
former  customer  had  had  occasion  to  return  certain  articles 
that  were  not  as  represented  in  the  catalog. 

But  one  epistle  in  particular  gave  a  specific  avenue  for 
investigation. 

It  said  in  part:  "Why,  I  got  a  rug  from  that  firm 
some  time  ago  and  even  when  I  got  it  at  the  railroad  sta- 
lion  it  wasn't  fit  to  take  home." 

Goes  Into  Rural  Districts. 

Summing  up  the  returns  from  the  letters,  we  found 
they  were  only  general  in  their  answers — but  the  anger 
of  evcpy  one  of  them  had  not  calmed  down  any.  There 
was  a  vein  of  antagonism  running  through  every  letter. 

So  it  became  necessary  to  probe  even  deepjr  beneath 
the  surface  of  things  to  unearth  and  remedy  the  difficulty, 
for  there  surely  was  a  bad  condition  that  nothing  but 
a  thorough,  persistent  investigation  would  reveal,  appar- 
ently. 

In  other  instances  I  had  almost  invariably  found  the 
snag  by  going  straight  to  the  consumer  or  dealer.  In  this 
instance  the  president  of  the  house  suggested  that  I  actual- 
ly call  on  these  mail-order  buyers  and  get  the  answer  first 
.nimcia 

I  appreciated  the  fact  that  I  would  be  traveling  the  lines 
of  hardest  resistance  if  I  tried  to  get  further  information 
from  those  who  had  returned  goods.  The  thought  struck 
me  that  it  would  be  a  good  idea  to  be  on  the  ground  at  the 
psychological  moment  when  the  mail-order  buyer  makes 
a  decision  in  favor  of  or  against  the  goods. 

This  mode  of  procedure  might  yield  some  valuable 
doctrine  that  the  institution  could  incorporate  in  its  sys- 
tem of  making  sales  stick.     From  the  order  department 


50 


Chapter  V:  Resistance  in  the  Shipping  DepaHment 

I  received  a  duplicate  of  an  order  for  a  stove  that  was 
going  through  the  house  for  a  party  in  a  town  about  75 
miles  distant. 

It  was  a  C.  O.  D.  order.  The  second  morning  after  I 
boarded  a  train  for  the  town  to  which  this  order  was  being 
sent,  I  told  the  station  agent  to  notify  me  when  the  ship- 

?oUow^  ^*  ^'^  ''*''  ^"'''^  *^^*  ^^'     ^°'  *^^  ^^y 

The  afternoon  of  the  following  day  I  eaUed  the  maO- 
order  house  on  the  long  distance. 
.        /  was  informed  that  the  order  had  not  been  packed  for 
shipment  yet.   It  would  probably  arrive  three  days  later,  I 
was  told,  ^  ' 

Disgusted  somewhat  I  boarded  a  train  for  home.    Three 
ftTsWpment ""  ""^  "*  *'*=  ^""^^  ""'''  ^^^"^  --«»« 

Mail-Order  Buyer  Is  Angiy. 

«„^^  tw  r'  y^'  "",^^'1  «"d  did  not  put  in' an  appear- 
ance that  day.     Nor  the  next  Fpcar- 

rfr.W„^"?  1-^*  '^  f'"7y"'  "''"'  ^  "^^"'^'^  the  Hove  had 
driven  into  town  from  hi,  place  three  miles  away  and  had 

M  about  his  order.    He  wa.  angry  when  h!  fonnTit 
had  not  arrived  by  the  time  of  his  latest  visit.     A  W 

culty  and  could  have  kUled  the  mail-order  house's  sale. 

shin^  r  ^^^Z~^°  "^^^  ^""^  *«  ^«*«  °f  order-the 
shipment  arrived. 

smpment,  drove  up  the  morning  following 

Jl-it'^^  ""  *"  ^tether  he  had  had  a  letter  from  the 

"P  letter  the  one  aimed  to  make  the  sale  stick,  ten  days 
Sd  h°  ^''-J'^P-nt s  arrival.  This  letter  should  tZl 
reached  him  not  earlier  than  one  day  ago. 

rhe  stove  was  crated  and  two  of  the  boards  had  torn 
toose.     Several  of  the  store's  parts  were  loose  in  the  bot- 


Hiddm  Ccmes  qf  RecMess  AdveHidng  Waste 


tan  of  tlic  crate.     In  addition  the  fanner  was  mad  clear 

tlurougli  at  the  delay. 

The  impulse  that  made  him  order  the  stove  had  cooled. 
It  made  Mm  madder  than  ever  when  the  freight  agent 
prciented  him  the  hill  for  the  stove  for  payment.  1  m 
going  to  huj  a  stove  at  Blank's,  in  town,    he  said. 

He  refmed  to  accept  the  merchandise— and  the  sale  was 
hit.  It  had  failed  to  stick. 

Other  Losses  Confirm  Belief. 

I  will  not  carry  you  through  the  dozen  similar  incidents 
that  I  encountered  in  a  month's  investigation  for  the  mail- 
order merchandise  house. 

Suffice  it  to  say  that  in  every  case  but  two,  these  sales 
conld  have  been  saved  if  the  goods  had  been  packed  neatly 
and  had  reached  the  customer  when  he  was  in  somewhat 
of  the  mood  that  prompted  the  mailing  of  the  order.  We 
had  grown  "cold"  on  the  proposition. 

The  investigation  revealed  that  the  9  per  cent  increase 
of  return  goods  was  the  fault  of  the  shipping  system. 
Careful  inspection  of  the  shipping  department  showed  arr 
inadeqmde  force  in  charge.  This  had  resulted  %n  the  entire 
ouip  hemg  fully  a  week  behind  in  '^{P^^f^'^'^^^^^^^^ 
of  Ume  completely  destroyed  the  impulse  that  resulted  m 
orders.  The  rapid  growth  of  the  business  had  swamped 
the  shipping  depaHment,  which,  being  apparently  unim- 
portant, had  Btle  attention,  and  had  not  been  expanded 
^-i  proper  ratio.  A  foreman,  trying  to  hold  down  expenses, 
mm  dloming  shipments  to  go  out  two  weeks  late-4hu 
was  the  cause  of  hit  sales. 

The  letter  that  was  sent  out  to  make  sales  stick  m  some 
cases  arrived  two  weeks  too  soon  to  have  the  least  bear- 
ing on  the  contact  between  the  purchaser  and  his  purchase. 

Shipping  Force  Made  Larger. 

A  lengthy  report  of  the  cause  of  the  trouble  and  my 
suggestions  for  its  remedy  was  presented  to  the  president 
of  the  mail-order  institution  coincident  with  his  receipt  of 


i 


Chapter  V:  Resistance  in  ike  Shipping  Department 

the  tabloid  sales  report  for  that  month,  showing  returned 
goods  to  be  14  per  cent — an  increase  over  the  previous 
month. 

The  head  of  the  business  took  little  time  in  making  the 
necessary  changes. 

An  entire  revolution  of  shipping  methods  took  place,  the 
new  regime  going  into  effect  almost  at  an  hour's  notice. 

The  following  day  a  force  60  per  cent  larger  was  work- 
ing  in  that  department. 

An  absolute,  unbreakable  rule  that  orders  received  in 
the  shipping  department  on  any  day  were  to  go  out  the 
same  day  if  it  was  necessary  to  double  the  force  to  ac- 
complish the  feat. 

The  head  of  the  department  was  given  charge  of  the 
mailing  of  the  C.  O.  D.  letters.  They  were  to  be  mailed 
the  day  the  shipment  left. 

Returned  Goods  Begin  to  Reduce. 

Before  a  week  had  passed  there  was  a  noticeable  reduc- 
tion in  the  number  of  sales  that  failed  to  stick. 

The  sales  report  by  the  end  of  the  month  showed  the 
returned  goods  to  be  7  per  cent — half  the  amount  of  the 
previous  month. 

The  next  month's  slate  showed  the  arrival  at  the  healthy 
figure  of  4  per  cent. 

Since  then,  the  president  tells  me,  the  perfection  of  ship- 
ping  methods  and  conception  of  ways  to  give  the  merchant 
disc  a  good  introduction  to  the  customer  on  arrival  have 
reduced  losses  of  sales  to  S}^  per  cent. 

Each  one  of  this  concern's  customers  had  been  secured 
at  a  certain  advertising  cost.  Then  whenever  a  sale  was 
lost  that  amount  of  money  must  be  charged  off  as  a  waste 
of  the  advertising  fund  expended  in  securing  the  business 
of  that  customer. 

In  some  lines  of  merchandise,  sold  direct  by  mail,  the 
cost  of  each  customer's  initial  order — ^which  is  the  cost 
of  getting  that  customer — is  several  times  the  amount  of 
the  average  order. 


6'2 


63 


EMdm  Catms  of  EeeUeas  Advertising  Waste 


Chapter  V:  Resistance  in  the  Shipping  Department 


I  mn  informed  tlmt  the  institution  whose  story  is  told 
aiiove  pays  $11  for  advertising  cost  for  each  initial  sale. 
The  seriousness  of  the  advertising  waste  entailed  by  lost 
sales  was  quickly  realized  when  the  percentage  of  returned 
g«ids  passed  the  healthy  average  of  4  per  cent — as  it  did 
in  the  incident  I  have  related. 

The  Case  of  a  Sales  Agency. 

A  New  York  sales  agency  had  added  a  new  article  to 

its  line. 

To  save  donhle  transportation  charges,  arrangements 
were  made  to  ship  it  to  buyers  from  the  manufacturer's 
factory  a  few  hundred  miles  away,  for  the  article  was 
to  he  sold  by  mail  to  individuals  of  the  small  towns  and 
rural  communities  of  the  country. 

Advertisements  were  inserted  in  a  number  of  good  mail- 
order publications  and  inquiries  came  fast.  Catalogs  and 
foiow-up  letters  were  dispatched  to  the  inquirers  and 
orders  commenced  to  come  in. 

The  machines  were  shipped  from  the  manufacturer's 
plant  to  the  buyers. 

The  selling  plan  was  to  offer  an  agency  to  the  first 
buyer  in  each  community. 

At  least  two  sales  were  necessary  to  show  a  profit  on 
eaeh  man  to  whom  the  agency  was  given. 

Tills  was  a  condition  on  which  the  New  York  sales 
agency  had  figured  in  opening  its  campaign— no  less  than 
two  orders  must  come  from  each  individual  to  whom  the 
agency  was  given.  For  the  profit  on  the  line  was  not 
large,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  selling  end  of  the  busi- 
ness was  acting  in  the  capacity  of  jobber. 

A  short  time  after  the  first  few  machines  had  been 
shipped  there  came  a  demand  for  this  part  and  that,  which 
the  buyers  insisted  did  not  accompany  original  shipment. 

According  to  the  sales  agency  there  were  complaints 
from  fully  7U  per  cent  of  the  buyers.  This  necessitated 
clerical  work,  considerable  correspondence  with  the  factory 
and  the  loss  of  valuable  time. 


( 


It  was  found  that  the  consequent  waiting  before  the 
buyer  could  make  use  of  the  machine  destroyed  the  desire 
of  each  newly-appointed  agent  to  get  out  and  make  sales 
on  receipt  of  the  product. 

Thus  only  approximately  25  per  cent  of  those  sold  the 
first  month  furnished  repeat  orders.  The  first  enthusiasm 
of  the  remaining  76  per  cent  toward  the  machine  was  gone 
when  the  shipment  was  received.  It  looked  to  them  like 
a  misrepresentation — their  letters  echoed  this  fact. 

Careless  Employes  the  Cause. 

Hence  buyers  were  solely  intent  on  getting  justice  for 
themselves — they  were  not  likely  to  help  a  far-away  house 
sell  goods  when  it  held  back  parts  for  which  they  had  paid 
in  advance.  This  was  the  attitude  they  assumed  when 
writing  about  the  missing  parts,  for  the  distance  between 
the  customers  and  the  sellers — ^with  the  former's  money 
deposited  with  the  latter — seemed  to  cause  some  alarm. 

It  had  become  a  serious  matter  with  the  sales  agency 
that  depended  on  the  "repeat"  sale  for  its  ultimate  profit. 

Consequently  a  visit  was  paid  to  the  factory  and  com- 
plaint was  made  in  person.  The  New  Yorker  was  taken 
to  the  factory's  shipping  rooms  by  the  manufacturer. 
There  several  shipments  were  being  crated  for  the  New 
York  sales  agency. 

Together  the  pair  ripped  the  crates  from  off  half  a 
dozen  machines  and  proceeded  to  locate  the  parts  of  the 
machine  that  were  shipped  separate  from  the  body. 

In  three  of  the  six  shipments  there  were  from  one  to 
four  parts  missing. 

Investigation  developed  the  fact  that  carelessness  on 
the  part  of  employes  and  absolute  lack  of  system  in  trans* 
porting  parts  from  one  department  to  another  was  respoU" 
sible  for  the  condition. 

The  Remedy — A  Systematic  Method. 

The  manufacturer,  finding  these  chaotic  conditions  that 
he  had  no  idea  existed,  established  a  systematic  checking 
system. 


64 


SS 


Hidden  Causes  of  Reckless  AdveHising  Waste 


1 1 
i 


Before  the  last  boards  were  naUed  up— preparatory  to 
shipping  each  machine-a  checker  counted  the  parts  in 
each  shipment  On  his  sheet,  when  a  shipment  was  cor- 
rect, he  «a-atched  out  the  shipment  number.  When  a  crate 
was  not  complete  it  was  hauled  aside  for  the   additional 

1  X'7'*T^y  *^«  checking  of  shipments  was  a  mental  task 

11^  f  ""^^  ^^"^  P^^^^^  *^e  crate.  When  he  had 
picked  a  dozen  or  more  he  entered  the  number  on  a  slio 
and  let  it  go  at  that.  ^ 

The  remedy  of  this  snag  immediately  resulted  in  com- 
pletely satisfied  buyers—and  resulted  in  the  profit-making 
reorders  upon  which  the  sales  agency  had  counted  to 
make  its  advertismg  worth  the  effort. 

Too  Little  Attention  to  Shipping. 

You  will  fiiid  that  the  average  manufacturer,  wrapped 
up  either  m  the  solution  of  manufacturing  or  selling  prob- 
01'"^''^  **^  ^^"^  attention  to  the  vitally  important  item 

With  the  order  safe  in  the  house,  it  is  too  often  the  case 
thRt  the  sales  manager  or  the  manufacturer  will  consider 
tHe  whole  business  effort  at  an  end. 

Apparently  some  of  them  forget 'that  one  phase  of  sell- 
mg  IS  to  make  goods  stay  sold.  The  method  of  packing, 
the  speed  m  getting  shipments  on  their  way,  the  quick 
adjustment  of  losses  in  shipment  and  other  seemindv 
StTL  ew^'  ^^"^  "  ^'^  psychological  value  in  dealing 

An  advertising  man,  spending  a  week  in  the  shipping 
department  of  any  concern,  will  find  a  hundred  and  one 
effective  ways  of  ^ving  the  goods  a  respectable  introduction 
t©  customers. 

And  there  are  a  myriad  of  other  fine  points  that  the 
conscientious  advertising  man  will  discover-but  those  are 
loatteH.  that  an  Investigation  of  conditions  in  your  own 
institution  can  best  develop. 

.Ju^T^   "^^^^   ^f   investigation,   if   this   article   has 
acWeved  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  written. 


ti 


CHAPTER  VI 


Missing  the  Straight  Path 
to  the  Market 


HERE  is  a  startling  selling  story  from  the  business 
history  of  a  great  national  advertiser. 

You  know  the  house — it  has  been  the  subject  of 
complimentary  discussions  in  several  advertising  trade  jour- 
nals many,  many  times.  Today  the  house  is  affluent,  mak- 
ing barrels  of  money  from  its  successful  advertising  of 
several  of  its  best  products. 

The  facts  I  will  set  down  here  are  amazing  in  them- 
selves, but  they  would  be  a  hundred  times  more  astounding 
were  the  name  known,  for  a  lot  of  mythical  assumptions — 
taken-for-granted  theories,  would  be  wrecked.  I  tell  you 
this  to  impress  you  with  the  importance  of  the  theme. 
A  gentleman's  agreement  forbids  giving  names,  for  my 
connection  with  this  house  was  in  a  confidential  capacity. 

But  the  avoidance  of  the  snags  on  which  this  concern 
was  all  but  ruined  in  its  early  advertising  days,  constitutes 
a  vital  lesson  in  business.  I  hope  they  may  furnish  you 
who  are  reading  these  words  a  short-cut  past  such  diffi- 
culties. 

The  Advertising  Departure. 

This  manufacturer  had  been  going  along  nicely  for 
several  years,  making  and  selling  a  small  line  of  articles. 
His  outlet  was  dealers  in  many  sections  of  the  country. 
Probably  about  2,000  retail  merchants  had  his  goods  on 
their  counters.  He  had  a  sales  organization  of  about  a 
dozen  men  who  were  getting  additional  dealers  each  year, 
and  who  were  helping  the  dealers  sell  the  product  as  best 
they  could. 


I 


Bf 


Hidden  Causes  of  Reckkss  Advertising  Waste 


Bosiness  was  increasing— not  very  fast,  but  progress  was 
healthy.  Each  year  showed  a  slight  profit  increase  over  the 
preceding  year. 

Most  of  the  profit  was  turned  into  a  reserve  fund  the 
concern  had  established,  with  a  view  to  some  day  effecting 
an  expansion. 

The  line  was  one  of  high  class  and  it  commanded  the 
respect  of  the  dealers  and  those  of  their  customers  who 
could  afford  the  articles  which  were  high  in  price. 

The  time  had  come  when  the  reserve  fund  had  slowly 
mounted  to  a  figure  that  made  expansion  a  safe  proposition. 
So  the  manufacturer  and  his  aids  sought  ways  to  effect  it. 
They  decided  to  go  to  the  consumer  and  help  their  dealers 
sell  more  goods  by  advertising. 

The  sales-force  received  news  of  the  advertising  depart-* 
wtt  at  their  annual  convention.    Five  more  men  were  to  be 
added  to  the  selling  force  and  the  country  was  redistricted 
with  this  end  in  view.    The  idea  was  to  work  each  territory 
more  thoroughly. 

The  matter  of  "where  to  advertise"  was  put  up  to  the 
salesmen,  the  salesmanager,  heads  of  departments,  direct- 
ors and  the  president. 

The  Suggestions  Are  Sifted. 

Each  salesman  and  each  officer  held  an  opinion  of  his 
own.  Some  were  in  favor  of  booklets  for  the  dealer  to 
give  his  customers,  some  favored  placing  copy  in  maga- 
zines whose  editorial  viewpoints  they  liked,  some  favored 
bill  posting,  others  newspapers,  and  so  on. 

The  salesmanager,  who  had  strong  views  on  advertising, 
favored  newspapers  because  of  their  direct  influence  on 
the  local  merchant.  He  knew  that  such  influence  would 
bring  more  dealers,  he  was  confident  it  would  win  the  con- 
sumer too. 

Salesmanlike,  he  set  forth  glowingly  the  advantages  of 
having  a  salesman  call  upon  Merchant  Jones  after  Jones 
had  just  finished  reading  their  local  ad  in  his  local  daily. 


S8 


Chapter  VI:  Missing  the  Straight  Path  to  the  Market 


I 


Sifting  down  the  suggestions,  it  was  decided  to  take 
on  the  newspapers.  The  house  had  firm  convictions  that 
the  newspaper  ideally  answered  their  proposition.  "Later," 
the  president  said,  "we  will  do  other  advertising.  But  this 
one  thing  we  will  stick  to — ^we  will  always  use  localized 
advertising." 

Then  an  advertising  agent  was  called  in.  He  was  told 
of  the  decision.  He  attempted  to  oppose  it  and  he  gave  his 
reasons.     But  tlie  effort  was  without  avail. 

In  due  time  copy  appeared  in  newspapers  in  cities  and 
towns  where  the  company  had  decided  they  wanted  to  sell 
more  goods. 

The  reserve  fund  and  a  goodly  portion  of  the  prospective 
profit  accruing  from  the  campaign  had  been  converted  into 
thi^advertising  appropriation. 

The  idea  worked  splendidly.  Dealers  were  added  on  the 
strength  of  the  newspaper  advertising  and  they  gave  the 
salesmen  good  orders.  The  organization  was  elated  at  the 
success  of  the  experiment.  Already  there  was  profit  in 
sight. 

The  concern  found  wlien  the  season  for  selling  the  dealer 
was  over  that  it  had  two  dealers  for  every  one  that  was  on 
its  books  the  year  previous. 

This  was  the  situation  when  the  next  annual  meeting  of 
the  salesmen  was  held.  Everyone  was  happy.  The  adver- 
tising campaign  was  voted  the  greatest  step  the  business 
had  ever  taken. 

The  Salesmen's  Return  Visit. 

Every  salesman  left  for  his  territory  with  the  certain 
belief  that  he  would  do  a  much  bigger  business  than  ever 
before  with  his  dealers,  for  the  selling  force  was  primed 
to  get  dealers  to  order  heavier  for  the  following  year. 

The  line  of  articles  appealed  to  a  high  class  of  patron- 
age and  this  fact,  with  the  advertising,  gave  them  prestige. 

Within  a  few  weeks  a  few  straggling  orders  came  from 
the  salesmen.  Then  a  few  more  during  the  month  follow- 
ing.   Finally  the  orders  stopped  abruptly. 


50 


HUdm  Causes  of  EecMess  Advertising  Waste 


Chapter  VI:  Missing  the  Straight  Path  to  the  Market 


The  manufacturer,  who  two  months  back  had  been  highly 
elated,  was  alarmed  at  the  situation.  The  salesmen  "had 
not  paid  their  salaries  and  expenses  in  the  orders  they 
sent  in.  With  the  budget  of  the  year's  expense  before  him 
on  Ms  desk,  the  manufacturer  could  only  picture  a  loss 
that  actually  meant  ruin  to  tlie  business. 

The  entire  reserve  fund — now  larger  than  the  year 
before — ^would  be  wiped  out,  and  there  was  not  enough 
incoming  business  to  add  to  it  to  pay  salaries  and  running 
expenses. 

The  salesmen's  explanation  was  that  "dealers  weren't 
buying  as  heavily  this  year.  They  had  some  stock  on 
hand.  But  they're  still  strong  for  us.  Nobody  else  is 
getting  our  business." 

The  first  thing  the  manufacturer  did  was  to  prune  down 
the  expense  list.  The  advertising  first  came  into  his  mind. 
He  wired  cancellations  on  every  line.  He  shut  down  the 
factory  two  days  a  week,  that  being  a  standing  order  until 
further  notice. 

Then  a  stiff  letter  went  forward  to  each  salesman,  laying 
the  iituation  before  them.  They  were  told  not  to  leave  any 
town  until  they  had  sold  at  least  one  new  dealer.  They 
were  told  to  "fight  like  h~l  for  business,"  and  not  to  give 
up  until  they  got  it.  They  were  told  they  couldn't  talk 
advertising  any  more,  because  there  wasn't  any. 

Worked  His  Credit  Hard. 

Then  the  president  went  out  and  worked  his  credit  hard 

with  his  bankers. 

The  net  of  it  was  that  at  the  end  of  the  year  the  busi- 
ness pulled  through  fairly  well  as  a  result  of  jolting  the 
salesmen  into  getting  new  dealers. 

The  manufacturer  paid  off  his  indebtedness  and  found 
himself  with  a  small  reserve  fund  from  the  scant  profits 
of  the  year. 

When  he  had  time  to  get  his  breath  again  he  discovered 
that  the  difficulty  was  that  the  old  dealers  hadn't  sold  the 

iO 


i^ 


goods  they  bought  from  him  the  year  previous.  Hence  they 
wouldn't  re-order. 

He  checked  up  the  sales  to  old  dealers  during  the  sales- 
men's latest  trips,  against  the  previous  year's  advertising 
appropriation,  for  that  should  safely  show  the  goods  the 
advertising  sold  the  year  before,  for  dealers  would  re-order 
in  proportion. 

The  sales  were  scarcely  $30,000.  The  advertising  ap- 
propriation had  been  $65,000.  The  advertising  campaign 
had  been  an  utter  failure.  The  concern's  usual  volume  of 
business  before  advertising  was  about  $600,000.  The  year 
they  started  advertising  they  had  stocked  dealers  heavily 
on  the  strength  of  the  publicity.  But  the  advertising  had 
failed  to  move  the  goods,  as  expected,  so  the  dealers 
wouldn't  re-order  a  year  later.  With  the  result  that  the 
business  slumped  way  below  the  usual  volume. 

Ruin  had  stared  the  house  in  the  face.  It  was  the  worst 
period  of  their  career.  They  were  mighty  thankful  to  be 
able  to  pull  through  as  they  did. 

"Why  Did  Our  Advertising  Fail?" 

The  concern  religiously  shunned  advertising  for  several 
years.  A  mutual  friend  introduced  this  manufacturer  to 
the  writer  some  years  ago  and  I  became  interested  in  his 
business  experiences.  I  consented  to  make  an  investigation 
with  a  view  to  ascertaining  methods  that  would  succeed 
for  him,  for  he  still  was  keen  to  expand,  but  insisted  on 
knowing  his   ground  before  undertaking  any  advertising. 

He  wanted  to  know  why  he  had  failed.  That  was  the 
question  my  investigation  must  answer. 

The  writer  took  into  consideration  the  fact  that  this  line 
of  articles  appealed  to  a  high  class  of  people;  that  the 
dealer  organization,  even  though  it  had  grown,  was  still 
scattered  all  over  the  country. 

Then  I  took  one  territory  with  a  view  to  learning  why 
the  consumer  had  not  purchased  in  proportion  to  the  sell- 
ing effort  extended. 


61 


m 


Hidden  Causes  of  Reckless  AdveHising  Waste 


Wat  the  copy  wrong?  Did  it  fail  to  meet  local  condi- 
tooM?  Was  tlie  plan  inadequate?  Were  dealers  holding 
back?  Were  the  newspapers  reaching  the  right  people? 
Wm  competition  breaking  in?     Was  the  product  wrong? 

Those  questions  I  must  answer. 

First  I  visited  a  number  of  dealers  who  sold  the  product 
They  had  the  most  profound  respect  for  it  and  stated  they 
recommended  it  whenever  possible.  Then  I  went  to  deal- 
cw  who  were  not  handling  tWs  product.  While  they  had 
never  purchased  from  the  manufacturer  they  could  find  no 
fault  with  his  goods. 

One  dealer,  who  had  a  keen  grasp  of  his  local  situation, 
gave  me  a  clue  in  the  statement  that  naturally  only  a  cer- 
tain class  could  aiford  this  line  of  goods,  for  they  were 
0f  extraordinary  quality  and  hence  high  in  price. 

This  suggested  ascertaining  the  percentage  of  people 
wl»  could  afford  the  goods.  I  visited  100  homes  at  ran- 
'dom.  in  that  town. 

Only  11  of  those  homes  were  legitimate  prospects.  The 
iame  investigation  was  repeated  in  a  dozen  other  towns 
until  a  safe  average  was  established. 

^  To  m^  surprise  I  found  thai  ofdtf  9%  to  14%,  accord- 
mg  to  the  terrUorfs  wealth,  were  actual  prospects.  The 
merage  showed  lV/i%. 

The  Snag  That  Wrecked  the  Campaign, 

The  manufacturer  had  concentrated  on  each  territory 
with  newspaper  circulation.  But  he  had  used  the  papers 
that  went  to  the  better  class  of  people,  I  noticed. 

I  persuaded  publishers  to  allow  me  to  go  over  their  sub- 
■cription  lists. 

Among  the  better  class  of  papers  there  was,  as  exactly 
as  could  be  ascertained,  only  about  21%  of  their  circula- 
tion that  went  to  actual  prospects  who  were  useful  to  this 
wmnufacturen  There  was  the  rock  on  which  the  concern's 
^veHising  venture  had  been  wrecked.  Concentration  was 
dtsmtrous,  for  this  advertiser  had  to  pay  $5  for  every  $1 
worik  of  selling  force.     His  profit  on  the  line  made  that 

ft 


Chapter  VI:  Missing  the  Straight  Path  to  the  Market 


ratio  prohibitive.  It  was  an  impossible  commercial  equa- 
tion. The  net  of  his  failure  was  that  his  advertising  cost 
him  five  times  as  much  as  sound  methods  would  allow. 

The  morning  after  I  had  made  this  discovery,  I  had  a 
crew  of  high-grade  canvassers  visit  the  majority  of  the 
first-class  homes  in  that  town — the  homes  where  this  manu- 
facturer could  sell  his  goods  at  a  profit. 

Each  canvasser  was  provided  with  a  card  bearing  these 
printed  questions: 

Have  you  ever  bought  this  class  of  goods? 

At  about  what  price? 

What  newspapers  do  you  read? 

What  magazines  do  you  subscribe  for? 

What  magazines  do  you  buy  from  time  to  time  on  news- 
stands? 

What  weekly  publications  do  you  read? 

The  operation  was  repeated  in  widely  varied  communi- 
ties. We  wanted  to  establish  a  good,  safe  average.  Then 
we  knew  we  could  not  go  wrong. 

The  canvassers  were  instructed  to  handle  their  duties  in 
a  gentlemanly  manner  and  to  explain  that  the  material  was 
being  secured  on  behalf  of  a  reputable  manufacturer.  They 
were  instructed  to  ask  to  see  the  lady  of  the  house  in  every 
case.  And  in  the  majority  of  cases  they  secured  inter- 
views of  from  two  to  five  minutes,  which  gave  them  time  to 
collect  the  necessary  facts. 

When  almost  10,000  consumers  had  been  visited,  I  re- 
turned to  the  manufacturer  with  the  findings. 

The  investigation  showed  the  manufacturer  that  at  one- 
seventh  the  cost  of  his  disastrous  campaign  he  could  reach 
the  class  he  wanted  through  high-grade  monthly  and  weekly 
magazines.  He  could  concentrate  with  profitable,  almost 
wasteless  circulation.  At  one-seventh  the  cost  he  could 
reach  the  same  people — and  the  life  of  his  advertisement 
increased  from  two  weeks  to  a  month.  His  scattered  dis- 
tribution dovetailed  with  this  class  of  circulation. 

He  had  blindly  missed  the  straight  path  to  the  natural 
market  in  his  first  campaign.  That  accounted  for  his 
failure. 

63 


I     M 

I 


k 


HMdm  Causes  of  ReckUsB  Advertising  Waste 


Decides  on  New  Expansion  Plan. 

Tie  findings  demonstrated  thoroughly  the  path  to  this 
maker'a  market.  It  was  high-class  magazines  that  went 
into  the  11>4%  homes— this  with  due  regard  to  the  depend- 
ability  of  the  newspapers — ^and  to  the  great  principle  of 
concentration. 

With  the  seat  of  the  trouble  unearthed  the  house  became 
enthusiastic  to  expand.  This  time  the  board  of  directors 
had  exact  data  to  govern  them.  The  10,000  cards  gave 
them  a  prearranged  list  of  publications  that  they  knew  in 
advance  reached  their  logical  prospects. 

¥irile,  well-ill  ostrated  copy  was  prepared,  and  an  im- 
pressive dealer's  circular  sent  out.  The  salesmen  talked 
the  new  advertising  campaign  and  found  the  dealers  re- 
iponded  well— each  bought  a  little  heavier  than  he  had 
bought  the  year  previous. 

A  serici  of  strong  letters  went  out  to  dealers  constantly, 
tcliBg  how  they  could  make  use  of  the  advertising  when  it 
ran—how  they  could  center  its  productivity  on  their  stores 
—how  they  could  notify  the  very  finest  class  of  homes  in 
their  vicinity  that  they  carried  the  goods  that  were  adver- 
tised in  the  magaasines  that  reached  these  homes. 

Advance  proofs  of  the  advertisements  were  sent  out  to 
retail  merchants  and  they  were  told  the  advantages  of 
hanging  the  proofs  in  the  vicinity  of  the  store  where  these 
goods  were  on  sale. 

They  were  urged  to  grasp  the  prestige  that  would  accrue 
to  their  stores  by  mentioning  the  goods  in  their  local  news- 
paper advertising.  An  advertising  service  was  placed  at 
the  dealer's  service — ^all  work  was  done  for  him  gratis. 
AH  he  had  to  do  was  to  make  known  his  wants. 

The  advertising  copy  for  the  magazines  endeavored  to 
send  the  consumer  to  the  dealer,  and  in  addition,  asked 
for  an  inquiry  for  a  striking  booklet  covering  this  class  of 
goods.  The  consumer  was  also  asked  to  give  the  dealer's 
name.  The  dealer  was  to  be  notified  of  the  inquiry  imme- 
diately, and  was  to  'phone  the  consumer  that  he  had  the 
goods  wanted. 


Chapter  VI:  Missing  the  Straight  Path  to  the  Market 

The  advertising  expenditure,  instead  of  the  $66,000  ex- 
pended in  the  concentrated  campaign,  was  $30,000. 

Results  of  the  New  Campaign. 

From  the  start  the  new  campaign,  built  on  the  previous 
experience  and  the  results  of  the  investigation,  was  a  strik- 
ing success. 

Its  effect  was  strongly  felt  within  a  month  from  the  date 
the  first  copy  appeared  in  magazines. 

Then  came  the  salesmen's  convention  at  the  end  of  that 
fiscal  year.  When  the  salesmen  had  finished  making  the 
round  of  their  dealers  the  season  following,  the  manufac- 
turer checked  up  on  the  increase  his  advertising  had  effected 
in  the  same  manner  that  he  had  recorded  his  loss  in  the 
disastrous  period  several  years  back. 

The  $30,000  advertising  expenditure  had  brought  about 
an  increase  of  more  than  $125,000  business,  bringing  the 
volume  for  the  preceding  year  up  to  approximately  $1,000,- 
000 — the  greatest  year  the  institution  had  ever  had.  The 
house  had  hit  the  straight  path  to  its  natural  market,  a  fact 
backed  up  by  the  year's  success.  The  choice  of  correct 
media  had  marked  the  turning  point  in  the  business. 

For  a  number  of  years,  with  an  advertising  increase  each 
year,  the  business  kept  on  growing  at  the  same  pace. 

Dealers  were  added  at  a  healthy  rate.  The  high  grade 
magazines  had  secured  adequate  distribution,  also,  in  addi- 
tion to  selling  the  goods  at  a  profit. 

Today  this  manufacturer  is  no  longer  in  the  thin-spread 
distribution  class,  and  he  has  a  plan  for  using  newspapers 
in  a  co-operative  way  with  his  dealers  which  will  give  him 
concentration  backed  up  by  the  great  magazines. 

His  success  or  failure  lay  in  choice  of  media.  He  had 
found  the  correct  media  for  his  conditions  and  business. 

And  in  his  experience  lies  a  short-cut  to  success  that  no 
manufacturer  who  expects  to  expand,  or  is  expanding,  dares 
to  overlook. 


IS 


Hidien  Causes  of  Reckless  Advertising  Waste 


Importance  of  Correct  Media. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  study  of  media  is  of  as  great 
importance — ^perhaps  more  importance — ^than  the  study  of 
correct  copy  methods. 

That  statement  is  logical,  too,  for  firing  at  the  wrong 
market  with  hard-earned  money  is  a  quick  route  to  disaster. 

No  article  can  sell  by  advertising  if  its  story  is  told  to 
a  class  of  people  who  are  not  in  the  market  for  it.  Neither 
can  you  sell  to  a  market  in  which  the  percentage  of  your 
prospects  is  small — ^the  cost  of  the  effort  in  finding  your 
prospects  is  ruinous  to  profits. 

Sometimes  a  manufacturer,  with  thorough  distribution 
and  a  big  sale,  finds  there  is  a  small  class  he  is  not  reach- 
ing. He  may  have  to  buy  90%  waste  circulation  to  get 
them.  He  pays  a  heavy  premium,  but  the  cumulative  effect 
of  advertising  in  other  mediums  will  push  him  along  to 
success  in  this  venture. 

I  know  an  advertiser  of  a  device  to  give  one  fresh  air 
while  sleeping.  Because  he  liked  mediums  which  were 
favorable  to  dealer  propositions,  he  advertised  his  device 
there.  He  lost  money  from  the  start,  but  he  lived  in  the 
hope  that  a  "fresh  air  wave"  would  awaken  the  country  to 
the  need  for  his  article. 

He  utiliiEed  magazines,  a  large  part  of  the  circulation  of 
which  went  into  towns  where  ruddy-cheeked  folks  never 
knew  the  need  of  fresh  air.     They  lived  in  it  all  the  time. 

Finally  the  advertising  drain  was  so  great  he  had  to  quit 
advertising. 

His  logical  medimn  was  in  the  great  cities,  where  folks 
are  cooped  up  in  offices  all  through  the  day — ^people  to 
whom  fresh  air  while  sleeping  is  a  vital  asset. 

How  could  he  reach  these  office  people  in  greatest  num- 
bers, at  lowest  selling  cost  per  capita? 

They  are  the  folks  who  constitute  the  "rush  hour  crowds" 
in  metropolitan  street  cars.  The  street  car  was  the  focal 
point  of  the  people  who  need  this  device.  There  he  could 
sell  his  article  at  a  profit,  when  he  had  secured  adequate 
distribution  or  allowed  an  exclusive  agency  to  each  city. 


Chapter  VI:  Missing  the  Straight  Path  to  the  Market 


So  today  this  manufacturer  is  awaiting  the  fresh-air 
wave  that  he  expects  to  sweep  this  country.  The  point  of 
origin  of  the  fresh  air  wave — ^the  big  cities— is  being  over- 
looked. 


The  Adaptability  of  Media. 

In  a  word,  the  elemental  thought  in  advertising  is  to 
reach  the  man  who  needs  your  goods. 

Yet  this  basic  principle  is  violated  constantly,  to  the  ex- 
tent that  many  advertisers  lose  thousands  upon  thousands 
of  dollars  in  experimenting  on  media  that  their  better  judg- 
ment should  tell  them  is  unfit  for  their  use  until  the  small 
quota  of  prospects  that  circulation  contains  is  worth  paying 
a  heavy  premium  for. 

Weigh  the  adaptability  of  media  carefully.  It  is  a 
vital  point.  You  would  not  try  to  sell  men's  articles  to 
women. 

One  advertising  manager  I  know  attempts  to  make  a 
thorough  investigation  of  at  least  one  thousand  of  the  cir- 
culation of  every  medium  into  which  his  advertisements  go. 
He  does  this  in  various  ways,  but  always  knows  exactly  the 
worth  of  the  space  he  buys. 

The  adaptability  of  media  to  the  product,  itsTmarJeet  and 
tts  price  is  worthy  of  as  careful  and  searching  an  analysis 
as  the  subject  of  copy. 

It  is  one  of  the  biggest  subjects  in  advertising  today— 
the  man  who  knows  media  has  his  battle  more  than  half- 
won,  ' 


I 


II 


I 


u 


<7 


i: 


CHAPTER  VII 


The  One-Man  Business 


I  KNOW  a  business  that  plugged  along  a  long  time 
witli  a  total  yearly  volume  of  about  $600,000  gross 
sales  that  might  just  as  easily  have  been  three  times 
tbat  amount. 

The  product  is  an  excellent  one,  in  wide  demand,  and 
■ales  respond  readily  to  judicious  pushing. 

Tie  advertising  was  adequate,  considering  the  facilities 
for  handling  the  business.  The  machinery  of  the  factory, 
the  financial  end,  and  the  bookkeeping  department  are 
fairly  up-to-date. 

Tic  prospective  market  was  several  times  larger  than 
the  proportion  of  business  received.  That  is,  it  was  figured 
tlul  a  business  of  three  or  four  times  the  then  volume 
ffftoifM  be  available. 

Many  conferences  were  held  between  the  managing  part- 
ner and  his  heads  of  departments.  But  at  none  of  these 
wmf  a  finger  placed  squarely  on  the  real  difficulty. 

So  things  rubbed  along  in  the  old  groove.  Approxi- 
mately the  same  volume  of  business  was  received  year  after 
year.    Little  if  any  growth  was  made  for  several  years. 

A  Brief  Investigation. 

I  was  invited  to  lunch  one  day,  about  a  year  and  a  half 
agn^  with  the  active  partner  of  the  firm.  There  was  no 
special  reason  why  he  should  bring  up  business  matters, 
but  apparently  his  head  was  full  of  it  and  it  had  to  come 
out 

He  wanted  to  grow.  But  he  had  lived  for  years  so 
closely  within  his  factory  and  sales  rooms  that  he  knew 
little  of  the  outside  business  world.  And  he  had  not  the 
faculty  for  putting  into  the  business  the  steam  that  he 
longed  to  see  there. 

98 


Chapter  VII:  The  One-Man  Business 


I  put  him  through  the  "third  degree"  in  response  to  his 
suggestion  that  I  ask  him  any  question  I  pleased  about  the 
business.  This  elicited  a  lead  that  I  felt  sure  was  the 
right  one. 

Leaving  the  cafe  we  went  over  to  the  factory. 

Incidentally  I  had  learned  that  the  firm  operated  half 
a  dozen  retail  stores,  where  they  sold  their  own  product. 
Also  that  they  did  a  large  mail  order  trade. 

Sales  were  made  through  dealers  as  a  preference,  but 
where  there  was  no  dealer  the  product  was  sold  direct  and 
delivered  by  mail  or  express. 

"Now  make  yourself  at  home,"  my  friend  said.  "I'll 
be  with  you  in  a  minute." 

I  sat  down  near  by  and  kept  my  eyes  and  ears  open. 

On  the  desk  was  a  pile  of  unopened  mail.  The  head  of 
the  house  proceeded  to  open  this,  take  out  checks  and 
orders  pin  them  together,  mark  letters  for  various  depart- 
ments, etc. 

While  doing  so  he  was  interrupted  every  half  minute  by 
clerks,  janitors,  foremen,  and  others  who  had  questions  to 
ask  abJut  innumerable  details. 

Occasionally  he  would  answer  the  telephone,  either  a 
private  call  from  some  part  of  the  factory  or  from  an 
outside  source. 

Two  or  three  times  he  left  the  desk  to  run  up  the  stairs 
to  the  next  floor,  or  down  to  the  basement. 

I  had  privately  consulted  my  watch  when  he  began  the 
opening  of  the  mail.  It  was  over  an  hour  later  when  he 
picked  up  a  pile  of  letters  and  orders,  stamped  them  with 
a  rubber  stamp,  and  came  over  to  where  I  was  seated,  his 
forehead  wrinkled  between  the  eyes  in  a  worry  frown. 

"Well!  Now  I*m  ready  for  you,"  he  said.  "Lord! 
I'm  nervous  and  tired  out  ihese  days.  Don't  know  what's 
the  matter  with  me." 

"What  are  you  going  to  do  with  those  .^"  I  asked,  indi- 
cating the  papers  in  his  hand. 

"Pick  out  the  orders,"  was  the  reply.  "I  make  it  a  rule 
to  fill  every  mail  order  personally,' 


09 


»» 


I 
I 


# 


HMim  Causes  of  Reckless  Advertising  Waste 


Chapter  VII:  The  One-Man  Business 


Sf» 


"And  do  yoo  open  the  mail?' 

•*And   buy  all   the  pencils,   and   sawdust,  and  printed 
:m»tler,  etc?" 
ji  es« 

"And  sign  all  the  checks?  And  write  all  the  advertising? 
And  dictate  most  of  the  letters?  And  personally  direct 
every  detail  of  the  business  from  basement  to  garret  of  this 
entire  bnilding?" 

"Yes,"  he  answered,  with  real  pride ;  "I  do  it  all  myself." 

••Wei,"  I  remarked,  "I  guess  I'm  through  with  my  little 
investigation.  Let's  go  out  for  an  automobile  run  for  an 
hour.    It  will  do  you  good.    Got  your  car  here?" 

He  sighed  dolefully.  "Wish  I  could,  but  this  is  our 
bniy  season  and  I  never  leave  the  factory  until  11  at 
night. 

"But,"  he  added  in  surprise,  •'do  you  know  already  why 
I  can't  make  the  business  grow  larger?" 

The  Answer  Was  Easy. 

The  reader  will  have  discovered  the  reason  long  ago. 

Simply  a  case  of  a  "one-man  business." 

Wlicfc  the  head  of  the  house  wasn't  big  enough,  or 
experienced  enough,  or  lacked  sufficient  confidence  in  his 
employes. 

So  that  every  pitiful  little  detail  of  what  might  have 
been  a  big  business  was  cramped  and  confined  by  the  phys- 
ical and  mental  capacity  of  one  man. 

In  this  particular  case  I  learned  later  that  in  trying  to 
fill  the  numerous  mail  orders  this  man,  naturally,  hurried 
to  such  an  extent  that  orders  were  poorly  filled.  It  was  a 
product  where  the  personal  element  was  important  and 
time  and  again  goods  were  returned  by  dissatisfied  cus- 
tomers and  the  order  was  lost,  and  also  all  the  other  orders 
that  would  have  come  through  personal  advertising  by  a 
satisfied  customer. 


10 


At  an  early  opportunity  I  took  this  man  aside  and  told 
him  the  plain  truth  about  his  business.  And  just  why  the 
sales  could  not  possibly  grow  beyond  the  limited  capacity 
of  one  man. 

He  was  amazed.  Had  always  rather  prided  himself  on 
his  close  attention  to  detail  and  his  personal  touch  with 
every  phase  of  the  entire  factory  and  sales  department. 


Where  one  man  tries  to  do  evety  thlnft  in  the  house. 


It  was  at  first  a  great  shock  to  his  vanity  and  he  was 
inclined  to  fear  the  result  of  delegating  to  others  the  nu- 
merous duties  with  which  he  had  surrounded  himself. 

I  finally  tore  his  arguments  to  shreds  by  showing  him 
how  large  corporations  and  great  trade  successes  would  be 
utterly  impossible  if  this  "one  man"  principle  was  at- 
tempted. 

I  appealed  to  his  vanity  by  convincing  him  that  it  took 
a  smarter  man  to  hire  good  men  and  have  them  work  suc- 
cessfully for  him  than  it  required  to  do  the  same  work  in 
person. 

71 


aoai 


■■■■■I 


HiMm  Catises  o/  Reckless  AdveHising  Waste 


Chapter  VII:  The  One-Man  Business 


I  showed  him  what  would  happen  in  the  event  of  his 
death  or  disability.  How  he  had  built  a  pyramid  with  the 
point  down.  And  what  a  crash  would  result  from  an  acci- 
dent to  the  "individual"  point  on  which  the  whole  structure 
of  his  affairs  rested. 

Among  other  things  I  pointed  out  how  he  was  crippling 
his  advertising  investment  by  his  inability  to  properly  cash 
in  and  follow  up  the  replies  received. 

How  he  would  receive  a  much  larger  percentage  of 
results  if  an  organized  and  adequate  system  were  installed, 
with  sufficient  brain  power  and  clerk  equipment  to  prop- 
erly develop  it. 

And  I  finally  prevailed  upon  him  to  organize  his  business 
mk  *  Iwisis  of  Executive  rather  than  Personal  activity. 

The  Result  of  Organization. 

I  called  on  my  friend  again  last  fall. 
I  had  not  seen  him  for  a  year  or  more. 
He  was  bright,  cheerful,  bubbling  over  with  exuberant 
health  and  spirits. 

He  had  time  to  devote  a  half  day  to  a  most  delightful 

visit. 

Business  had  increased  about  30  to  40  per  cent  in 
eighteen  months.  His  sales  both  through  dealers  and  by 
mail  were  away  ahead  of  the  corresponding  period  the 
year  before.  And  his  product  never  had  given  such  satis- 
faction to  users. 

His  factory,  accounting  department,  and  order  depart- 
ment were  now  running  like  well-oiled  machinery.  Each 
was  in  complete  charge  of  an  experienced  man,  at  a  good 
salary  and  on  a  profit-sharing  basis  over  a  certain  volume 

In  his  own  private  office— which  was  a  new  thing  for 
him— he  had  a  flat-topped  desk  which  was  perfectly  bare 
of  papers  or  other  miscellany  on  the  morning  I  called. 

"Oh,  I  leave  that  to  Mr.  ,"  he  smiled,  when  I 

asked  him  about  certain  details.  "I  only  look  after  the 
big  features.     Sort  of  sit  up  on  the  seat  and  drive. 

72 


i<{ 


>f 


■Scientific  Management." 

At  the  risk  of  using  a  well  worn  term  I  would  call  this 
an  application  of  "Scientific  Management." 

Possibly  results  were  unusually  startling  and  maybe  more 
striking  than  would  always  be  the  case. 

But  I  am  convinced  that  there  are  thousands  of  business 
houses  running  on  this  "one  man"  plan  where  an  applica- 
tion of  more  extended  executive  ability  instead  of  a  too 
close  and  narrow  attention  to  detail  on  the  part  of  the  big 
men  of  the  house  would  work  out  quite  as  remarkably. 

In  this  instance — as  I  doubt  not  would  be  true  in  others 
as  well — ^the  investment  for  advertising  alone  was  made 
many  times  more  productive  simply  because  inquiries  and 
orders  were  handled  so  much  more  systematically  and  care- 
fully that  the  traceable  sales  far  exceeded  anything  that 
had  been  known  before. 


72 


'I' 


Chapter  VIII:  The  Weak  Link  in  the  Selling  Chain 


CHAPTER  VIII 


The  Weak  Link  in  the 
Selling  Chain 


I  BELIEVE  in  submerging— as  far  as  possible--the 
personality  of  a  writer.  This  series  of  articles  is,  how- 
e¥er,  more  or  less  of  a  straight  personal  affair.  Hence, 
I  may  be  pawioned  for  the  intrusion  of  "I"  into  the  story 
of  these  interesting  investigations.  n    %.  a 

A  manufacturer  called  on  me  the  other  day.  He  had 
been  reading,  with  avidity,  the  records  of  the  various  cases 
m  which  I  had  been  engaged.  And  he  had,  at  last.  He  saia, 
become  convinced  that  I  could  help  him. 

So  he  jumped  a  fast  train  and  came  to  Chicago. 
I  took  him  out  to  lunch  (though  he  insisted  on  settling 
the  biU,  by  the  way)  and  we  went  into  the  problem. 

He  said  he  recognized  the  strength  of  my  investigations, 
though  none  had  quite  hit  the  spot  with  him.  Because  he 
bad  organized  his  business  along  lines  that  appeared,  as  far 
as  he  could  see,  to  coincide  with  my  ideas. 

His  advertising  was  well  done,  through  a  leading  agency. 
His  sales  force  was  ample,  educated  to  work  in  harmony 
with  the  advertising  and  taught  to  make  it  their  seUing 
argument  rather  than  to  push  the  goods  alone. 

His  shipping  department  was  excellent.  His  corre- 
spondence well  written  and  promptly  handled. 

Altogether  he  was  perplexed  to  know  why  it  was  that  re- 
sults were  not  what  he  wanted  or  what  he  expected  when 

he  began  advertising.  ,     ,     .  -         ..     .^«^„««„ 

I  Mt  a  full  history  of  the  busmess  from  its  inception. 
It  was  evidently  capably  conducted,  ^^^^  Progressed  and 
made  money.  The  only  drawback  seemed  to  be  that  the 
owner,  after  adding  a  modern  advertising  campaign  to  his 
selling  plan,  had  failed  to  see  the  hoped-for  decided  up- 
ward jog  in  sales  and  profits. 

f4 


Personal  Investigation  Comes  First. 

It  looked  like  a  difficult  problem,  but  I  told  the  man 
that  I  would  run  out  to  his  town  and  see  the  plant  and  tto 
deeper  into  the  affair.  * 

This  I  did  a  few  days  later. 

What  I  found  bore  out  fully  the  owner's  claims.  The 
factory  was  commodious,  modern,  excellently  equipped. 
The  employees  in  every  department  were  alert,  bright, 
busy.  If  surface  indications  were  any  judge  here  was  a 
business  run  right  up  to  latest  ideas  of  factory  and  selling 
organization. 

The  product  is  one  that  is  called  for  in  every  home,  by 
every  housewife.  It  is  one  that  can  be  sold  to  every  class, 
rich  and  poor  alike.  It  is  distributed  through  grocery 
stores,  grocery  departments  of  the  big  city  stores  and 
through  delicatessen  shops  and  dairies. 

It  is  put  up  in  packages — cardboard  cartons. 

I  dug  into  the  record  of  sales,  cost  of  advertising,  list 
of  dealers  who  carried  the  product,  and  methods  used  by 
the  salesmen  in  presenting  the  product  to  dealers. 

Everything  looked  all  right.  I  could  find  no  flaw  in  the 
chain  of  sales  methods. 

Then  I  got  down  to  details.  I  had  samples  of  the  goods 
and  the  package  brought  to  me.  In  fact,  I  opened  the 
package  myself,  first  noting  that  it  was  well  made,  well 
printed  and  of  dainty  design.  Then  we  went  to  the  testing 
room  and  I  had  some  of  the  article  prepared  as  it  would 
be  in  actual  use. 

It  was  perfect.  There  wasn't  the  faintest  criticism  that 
could  be  made. 

Frankly,  I  was  puzzled.  Always  before  in  my  investi- 
gations  I  had  come  across,  in  less  time  than  had  been  occu- 
pired  on  this  case,  some  "lead"  that  gave  me  an  inkling  of 
the  direction  in  which  I  would  be  most  likely  to  find  the 
leak. 

But  here  everything  was  modern,  efficient,  good  practice 
to  the  last  degree. 


75 


MMdm  Causes  of  Reckless  Advertising  Waste 


f 


Isolating  the  Weakness. 

There  was  only  one  thing  to  be  done  now.  Go  to  the 
consumer  and  the  dealer. 

'The  disease  was  there.      No     doubt    of    that.      I    had 
eliminated,  jmaljzed  until  it  could  be  nowhere  else. 

So  we  got  an  automobile  at  a  small  town  a  hundred 
miles  or  so  distant  from  the  factory  and  began  a  round 
of  the  retailers. 

The  advertising  was  appearing  in  the  national  maga- 
lines,  national  weeklies  and  in  the  local  papers  published 
in  this  town.  Local  advertising  was  over  the  manufac- 
turer's name,  however,  and  here  I  began  to  get  my  first 
scent  of  trouble.  For  it  had  not  occurred  to  the  advertis- 
ing department  to  tell  me  this  point. 

The  irst  store  we  called  at  was  one  of  those  clean, 
snappy,  up-to-date  establishments  that  impress  at  once. 
It  looked  like  a  money-maker. 

The  interior — floors,  show-cases,  counters,  etc. — ^was  im- 
miiciilale.  The  general  tint  or  coloring  was  of  the  usual 
drab  or  gray. 

A  customer  was  at  the  counter  as  we  came  into  the 
store. 

"Is  there  anything    else,    today,    Mrs.    ?"    we 

heard  the  salesman  inquire. 

"Yes! — But — I  can't  remember  the  name.  I  saw  it 
advertised." 

She  paused  with  finger  on  lips,  glancing  about  the  store 
' — up  and  down  the  shelves — along  the  counters — ^as  if 
looking  for  inspiration. 

But  she  failed  to  recall  the  name,  and  left  the  store. 

Wc  were  speaking  with  the  salesman  when  she  quickly 

returned,  smiling. 

"I  remembered  what  I  wanted,"  she  said;  "it  was  a 
package  of  ." 

And,  curious  though  it  may  appear,  she  named  the  iden- 
Meid  prnd^mei  we  were  investigating. 
,.   The  clerk  took  it  from  the  shelf  behind  him. 

The  delicate  coloring  of  the  carton  was  lost  in  the  light 
painted  woodwork. 

76 


Chapter  VIII:  The  Weak  Link  in  the  Selling  Chain 


There  was  hardly  one  chance  in  a  hundred  that  a  per- 
son looking  along  the  shelves  would  have  noticed  the 
package. 

And  there  wasn't  a  store  sign,  a  counter  display  or  a 
window  card  in  sight. 

Locating  the  Trouble. 

The  mystery — ^to  my  mind — was  solved.  Though  my- 
friend  the  manufacturer  was  even  yet  hardly  convinced 
that  this  lack  of  dealer  "tie  up"  was  the  weak  link  in  the 
chain. 

But  I  proved  it  to  him  later,  for  after  a  further  investi- 
gation with  this  as  a  clue,  we  returned  to  the  factory  and 
blocked  out  a  plan  to  remedy  the  evident  lack  of  cohesion 
between  the  advertising  and  the  dealer. 

I  had  all  the  local  ads  changed  to  read  over  the  local 
dealers*  names.  The  product  was  on  sale  in  several  stores 
and  later  on,  as  fast  as  a  store  stocked  it,  we  added  the 
name  of  that  store  on  the  local  advertising. 

Then  I  planned  a  new  carton,  or  package,  that  was 
strong  in  coloring  and  distinctive  in  design.  It  wasn't  so 
delicately  pretty  as  the  original.  And  the  manufacturer 
somewhat  regretted  the  lack  of  "prettiness."  But  it  was  a 
choice  between  "sales"  and  "looks,"  and  sales  won. 

Then  I  had  a  series  of  store  cards,  counter  displays,  win- 
dow cards,  etc.,  printed  so  that  customers  on  entering  the 
store  were  subjected  to  a  continuing  impression  to  clinch 
the  advertising  they  had  been  reading  in  the  magazines 
and  local  paper. 

The  result  was  simply  amazing. 

The  advertising  pulled  as  it  never  had  done  before.  Not 
because  there  was  any  especial  change  in  the  copy,  but  be- 
cause it  was  localized,  and  people  began  to  call  for  sam- 
ples and  demonstrations,  and  to  speak  to  their  friends  about 
the  article. 

Dealers  were  so  pleased  with  the  demand  that  the  prod- 
uct was  given  a  more  prominent  place  in  their  store  and 
salesmen  were  glad  to  push  it  on  account  of  its  easy  sale. 


11 


Hiddm  Causes  of  RecMess  AdmrHsing  Waste 


The  whole  difficnlty  had  been  in  the  lack  of  a  tie-up 
to  the  retailer's  store.  And  this  one  weak  link  in  an 
ollierwise  strong  chain  proved  the  old  adage  true  once  more. 

The  repair  of  the  defective  link  was  easy  as  soon  as 
we  located  the  weakness. 

AdFcrtising  Manager  Pleads  "Not  Guflty."  ^ 

"How  ever  did  you  come  to  overlook  that  vital  tie-up?" 
I  a^ed  the  advertising  manager  some  time  later. 

"Overlook  nothin*,"  he  retorted.  "I  wanted  the  Board 
of  Directors  to  let  me  plan  the  whole  campaign,  but  they 
mid  selling  goods  was  separate  from  advertising  and  I 
was  requested  to  attend  to  my  'knitting'  and  not  try  to  run 
the  whole  sales  department." 

Which  merely  emphasizes  the  contention  of  the  up-to- 
date  selling  expert  that  the  advertising  and  sales  depart- 
nieiil  are  inextricably  interwoven,  and  that  a  selling  cam- 
paign should  be  so  perfectly  and  thoroughly  planned  and 
nniied  that  no  such  weakness  could  occur. 

This  I  found  had  been  the  difficulty.  The  campaign  had 
been  planned  in  sections,  as  it  were,  and  after  each  was 
Qcmstnictcd  an  attempt  was  made  to  fit  them  all  together. 

Natufatty  there  were  incongruities.     Misfitting  was  in- 

cvitaMew 

T^ay  a  really  successful  selling  campaign  is  planned 
wcE  in  advance  of  its  operation.  Every  possible  point 
Is  gone  over.     Able  and  experienced  men  spend  days  and 

veeks  in  framing  it  into  a  coherent  umL 

Mo  oppoftunlty  for  any  slip  is  allowed  to  exist 

Mistakes  Due  to  Work  of  Movices. 

And  by  novice  is  meant  any  man  who  is  not  thoroughly 
familar  with  advertising  and  selling. 

It  may  weO  be  that  the  principal  owner,  the  president 
of  the  company,  chairman  of  the  board,  etc.,  may  be  the 
one  who  is  least  capable  of  accurate  decision  on  this  sub- 
ject. Because  many  a  man  who  is  a  past  master  of  fac- 
tory production  and  finances  is  for  that  very  reason  not 
a  good  judge  of  advertising  and  selling  methods  and  con- 

olliont. 

n 


Chapter  VIII:  The  Weak  Link  in  the  Selling  Chain 


Up-to-date  advertising,  distribution,  dealer  promotion 
and  salesmanship  is  a  specialty  and  has  grown  up  within 
a  comparatively  few  years.  And  the  present  condition  of 
excess  production  in  many  lines  has  fostered  a  keenness 
of  competition  that  has  made  necessary  entirely  new  ways 
of  handling  it. 

That  is  why  I  say  that  the  work  of  planning  a  sales- 
manship or  merchandising  campaign  should  be  done  by 
professionals.  That  is  why  the  judgment  of  the  best 
equipped  and  sanest  manufacturer  is  apt  to  go  wrong.  Un- 
less he  has  been  trained  in  the  present-day  selling  methods 
and  is  willing  to  adopt  present-day  plans. 

No  competent  selling  campaign  construction  would  have 
overlooked  in  the  case  of  this  manufacturer  the  very  evident 
weakness  of  the  selling  plan  at  such  a  critical  point  as 
the  relation  of  the  dealer  and  the  consumer. 

Had  the  whole  thing  been  laid  out  in  advance — ^as  a 
unit — including  the  name  of  the  article,  trade-mark,  pack- 
age, dealer  literature,  advertising,  catalog  (if  any),  etc., 
the  builder  would  have  produced  a  campaign  coherent  and 
complete  in  all  its  parts. 

It  is  this  unity  of  planning  and  completeness  of  prep- 
aration that  have  produced  the  marvelous  mercantile  suc- 
cesses of  the  past  few  years. 

The  Day  of  Absolute  Analysis. 

If  there  is  any  one  thing  more  than  another  that  dis- 
tinguishes the  advertising  "expert"  of  the  present  day,  it 
is  his  habit  and  his  capacity  for  absolute  and  intimate 
analysis  of  his  problem  before  he  touches  pen  or  pencil  or 
lays  out  a  plan. 

Data,  data,  MORE  DATA,  is  the  demand  of  the  man 
who  builds  successful  advertising. 

He  never  can  know  too  much  of  all  the  conditions  sur- 
rounding his  subject.  He  will  get  an  abundance  of  "meat" 
from  a  half  hour's  conversation  with  a  small  retailer  in  his 
own  store. 

He  will  call  on  customers,  from  house  to  house,  to  find 
out  the  consumer's  attitude. 


I 


t-} 


7» 


'Ill 


Midden  Causes  of  Reckless  Advertising  Waste 


And  his  advertising  arguments  will  be  plain,  simple, 
every-day  "talks"  to  buyers. 

Many  a  big  manufacturer  has  been  disappointed,  not  to 
say  disgusted,  when  he  has  examined  for  the  first  time  the 
work  of  a  successful  builder  of  advertising  and  selling. 

Because  he  has  been  led  to  look  for  "cleverness,"  "in- 
genuity," for  something  hypnotic  and  bizarre  that  should 
compel  people  to  buy  his  product. 

Such  a  little  thing  as  a  weak  link  between  the  dealer  and 
the  buyer,  in  the  dealer's  store,  is  not  suflSciently  full  of 
"fireworks"  to  attract  his  attention. 

And  yet  it  is  just  his  capacity  for  NOT  MISSING  these 
apparently  unimportant  "links"  that  marks  the  difference 
between  the  man  who  can  sell  goods  and  the  man  who  can't. 


m 


CHAPTER  IX 


The  Best  Doctor  Cheapest 

in  the  End 


JONES — we  will  call  him — of,  let  us   say,   Poseytown, 
Indiana,  is  a  large  manufacturer.     He  has  been  very 
successful  and  has  built   up   a   considerable   business 
without  much  effort. 

But  in  late  years  competition  arose,  and  he  found  that 
he  not  only  could  make  no  headway  but  that  his  customers 
were  many  of  them  dropping  off  to  other  brands  of  goods 


** Jones"  got  down  his  scrap  book  and  showed  me  proofs  of  the  ads,  etc. 

practically  the  same,  and  of  equal  quality,  as  his  own  line. 

The  business  has  been  conducted  on  rather  old-fashioned 

principles  and  methods.     Not  precisely  as  crude  as  keep- 

81 


I 


t 

; 


|i( 


ff  f 


HiMm  Causes  of  Reckless  Advertising  Waste 


ing  books  on  a  stove-pipe  with  a  piece  of  chalk;  but  still 
something  on  that  order. 

Such  a  thing  as  an  advertising  department  was  unheard 

of.  Sales-manager  there  was  none.  System  was  con- 
spicuoiM  bj  its  absence. 

Still  the  proprietor  is  one  of  those  natural-born  mer- 
chants of  the  old  school,  shrewd,  canny,  and  so  incredulous 
that  few  can  **put  anything  over"  on  him. 

An  immensely  likable  old  chap  is  "Jones,"  as  I  found 
out  the  first  time  I  met  him. 

That  was  one  hot  day  last  summer.  I  was  given  a 
letter  of  introduction  to  him  by  a  friend  of  the  old  man's, 
who  thought  I  might  be  able  to  do  something  for  him. 
My  letter  of  introduction  explained  why  I  had  been  sent 
to  him. 

Business  Going  Behind. 


•«i 


•Well,  Mr,  Jones/*  I  said,  "what  seems  to  be  the 
trouble?" 

The  old  gentleman  smiled.  The  kind  of  a  winning 
smile  that  gets  right  into  your  heart  at  once. 

I  could  see  on  the  instant  why  he  had  been  able  to 
hold  his  customers  in  the  old  days  when  the  head  of  a 
house  used  to  come  into  personal  contact  with  his  trade. 

But  personality — unfortunately — does  not  count  for  so 
much  nowadays, 

"Don't  know  as  Fd  exactly  call  it  'trouble,* "  he  replied, 
cheerily.  "But  I  do  hate  to  go  behind  on  sales  and  profits 
in  my  old  age.  I  suppose  it's  more  a  matter  of  pride  than 
anything  else,  for  I  have  money  enough  for  the  rest  of 
my  days.  But  I'd  kind  o'  like  to  leave  the  old  business 
in  good  shape, 

"You  sec  when  these  other  houses— run  by  younger  and 
more  active  men— got  cutting  in  on  me  I  concluded  I'd 
lave  to  fight  them  with  more  modern  weapons  than  I  had 
been  using.    So  I  started  in  on  an  advertising  campaign, 

82 


Chapter  IX:  The  Best  Doctor  Cheapest  in  the  End 


Tries  Modern  Methods. 


"I  started  right,  too.  I  went  to  Mr.  X.,  who  is  said 
to  be  an  'expert' — fact  he  admits  it  himself.  He  fixed 
me  up  the  finest  advertising  campaign  I  ever  saw.  I  was 
in  all  the  big  national  magazines,  some  Sunday  supple- 
ments, national  weeklies,  best  local  newspapers  in  small 
towns  and  cities,  and  in  a  number  of  the  leading  woman's 
and  farm  papers." 

"You  certainly  had  the  courage  of  your  convictions,"  I 
commented,  surprised  at  the  scale  on  which  the  advertising 
had  been  done.     "What  sort  of  copy  did  you  use?" 

"Jones"  got  down  his  scrap  books.  And  showed  me  the 
proofs  of  the  ads,  samples  of  follow-up  letters,  dealers* 
circulars,  and  other  campaign  matter. 

It  was  fine.  I  couldn't  have  done  it  better  myself.  It 
showed  clever  analysis  of  the  market,  excellent  type-setting, 
good,  strong  selling  "punch,"  and  on  the  whole  I  can 
scarcely  recall  ever  having  seen  a  series  of  selling  matter 
that  pleased   me   better. 

How  the  Salesman  Worked. 

"How  about  your  salesmen?'*  I  asked. 

"Got  a  bunch  of  the  best  boys  you  ever  saw.  Some  of 
them  have  been  with  me  for  twenty  years.  Others  are 
young  men  of  the  present  style  of  training.  All  of  them 
are  hustlers,  good  talkers,  able  men. 

"They  have  distinct  territories  and  cover  them  as  rap- 
idly as  possible.  You  sec  there's  a  big  field  and  they  have 
to  keep  going  to  get  around  it  all." 

He  explained  to  me  how  his  men  handled  the  trade,  how 
they  talked  the  service  idea  instead  of  trying  to  sell  the 
goods.  That  was  good  practice  and  just  the  way  that 
such  a  line  should  be  handled  when  the  advertising  cam- 
paign was  being  pushed. 

"And  you  say  the  results  haven't  been  what  you  wanted?" 
I  remarked. 

"I  should  say  not!'*  he  almost  shouted. 

"Instead  of  trade  increasing  it's  less  now  than  it  was  a 
year  ago  when  we  started  the  advertising.     And  it  keeps 


t't 


f^  f  <  if' 


It 


MiMm  Cames  of  Reckless  Advertising  Waste 

dropping  all  the  time.  Other  houses  are  getting  away  with 
otir  oM  customers.  And  try  as  we  may  it  seems  to  be  no 
avail." 

Here  surely  was  a  problem  for  me. 

But  I  had  seen  so  many  of  these  difficult  things  simplify 
rapidly  when  one  struck  the  right  clue  that  I  had  no  fear 
of  finally  puzzling  it  out. 

It  was  certainly  an  interesting  case. 

Goods  Right,  Name  Right,  Package  Right. 

The  goods  were  right,  in  every  respect.  They  had 
quality  all  over  them.  The  name  was  right,  the  package 
fight,  the  shipping  and  order  departments — such  as  they 
were — at  least  succeeded  in  making  reasonably  prompt  de- 
liveries. There  were  no  claims;  for  the  old  man  never  let 
a  customer  be  dissatisfied.  It  was  credit  back  to  account 
or  refill  order  at  once. 

Tlie  whole  staff  worked  so  harmoniously  together  that  it 
ifsemed  like  a  big  family  rather  than  a  business  establish- 
ment 

Where  then  lay  the  snag — for  snag  there  decidedly  wa$ 

— ■omewhere. 

*'Who  is  your  principal  competitor?"  I  asked,  trying  a 
new  tack. 

'There  isn't  any  'principal  competitor,*"  "Jones"  an- 
iwcrcd,  "Campbell  gets  our  trade  away  from  us  in  the 
middle  west,  Pettingill  seems  to  be  doing  better  in  the 
southwest,  Biggar  Brothers  have  a  better  Pacific  coast 
business,  and  so  it  goes.  There  isn't  any  om  house  that 
bothers  us.     It's  one  here  and  another  there." 

(These  firm  names,  by  the  way,  are  all  fictitious.  I 
promised  "Jones"  that  I  would  give  no  clue  to  this  busi- 
ness or  he  wouldn't  have  let  me  write  this  story.) 

There  began  to  dawn  on  me  a  glinunering  of  the  solu- 
tion of  the  mystery. 

Where  the  Trouble  Was  Discovered. 

"You're  the  biggest  house  in  the  line,  aren't  you?"  I 
'Queried. 

"We  were,"  was  the  reply.  "But  some  of  these  young- 
sters are  getting  ahead  of  me,  I  fear." 

84 


Chapter  IX:  The  Best  Doctor  Cheapest  in  the  End 


"Where  is  your  best  territory?" 

"Middle  west  and  southwest." 

"And  that's  where  Campbell  and  Pettingill  are  cutting 
in  on  you,  isn't  it?" 

"Yes.  They  are  putting  in  their  whole  effort  in  that  ter- 
ritory. They  don't  go  into  the  rest  of  the  country  at  all — 
at  least  not  energetically.  They  just  pick  up  elsewhere 
what  comes  to  them." 

I  continued  the  conversation  along  these  lines  and  soon 
discovered  where  the  trouble  was. 

Simply  "scatteration'  instead  of  "concentration." 

Like  the  old  fable  of  how  the  wise  man  broke  the  bunch 
of  fagots  by  separating  them  and  breaking  each  singly. 
Together  they  were  too  strong  for  him  to  make  any  frac- 
ture in  the  bundle. 

"Jones,"  acting  under  the  hasty  advice,  or  deliberate  ig- 
norance of  his  so-called  advertising  "expert,"  had  attempted 
with  $25,000  what  should  have  had  $100,000. 

Not  but  what  he  might  have  done  well  with  the  smaller 
appropriation  if  he  had  used  it  judiciously. 

But  he  spread  it  out  so  thin  that  it  was  impossible  for 
him  to  make  a  headway  against  the  concentrated  attacks  of 
a  different  competitor  in  each  district.  They  were  putting 
their  whole  force  against  what  amounted  to  only  a  skirmish 
line  with  him. 

So  that  in  spite  of  his  excellent  general  publicity  he 
was  unable  to  get  a  tie-up  sufficiently  strong  to  hold  hia 
own. 

His  salesmen  certainly  covered  a  wide  territory  with 
great  rapidity.  But  this  very  speed  created  hasty  and  slip- 
shod work.  They  were  more  concerned  in  making  trains 
and  covering  country  than  in  strengthening  their  hold  on 
each  dealer  as  they  came  to  him. 

And  the  advertising,  excellent  though  it  was,  could  not 
furnish  the  last  clincher  that  was  required  to  hold  the 
business. 

I  found  in  going  over  the  replies  and  inquiries  that  while 
the  total  was  excellent,  the  number  from  any  specific  lo- 
cality was  not  sufficiently  large  to  amount  to  a  moh  demand. 
And  the  few  inquiries  received  in  any  specific  locality  did 
not  have  much  effect  on  the  local  dealer. 

8S 


N 


Hi. 


t 


I 


4l 


''T. 


Hidden  Caitses  of  Reckless  Advertising  Waste 

The  Revised  Campaign. 

At  the  request  of  Mr.  "Jones"  I  took  hold  of  his  selling 
and  advertising  department  for  a  few  weeks. 

It  was  just  about  time  to  be  starting  a  second  campaign 
ftOfl  the  time  was  opportune. 

We  went  very  carefully  over  the  entire  United  States 
and  selected  localities  and  states  where  there  seemed  the 
most  need  of  attack  or  defense,  and  where  the  prospects 
for  getting  back  the  old  dealers  were  most  promising. 

The  advertising  was  run  about  as  before  in  the  national 
publications,  big  women's  papers,  etc.,  but  we  put  on  a 
special  campaign  in  the  farm  papers  circulating  in  the 
special  states  selected,  and  we  also  arranged  a  reciprocal 
lot  of  advertising  in  the  local  papers  of  the  best  towns  in 
the  locality. 

This  local  paper  advertising  was  framed  up  on  a  basis 
by  which  the  manufacturer  paid  part  and  the  dealer  paid 
part.  The  dealer  made  the  contracts,  on  the  best  rate  pos- 
sible, and  the  manufacturer's  ads  were  placed  through  the 
dealer  and  over  his  name. 

Then  we  withdrew  practically  all  the  best  salesmen  from 
other  territories — temporarily — and  concentrated  tHfem  on 
the  objective  states  where  we  wanted  to  line  the  business 
up  solidly — so  solidlv  that  it  could  not  get  away  again  in 
a  reasonable  time. 

After  I  got  the  plan  in  working  order  and  organized  a 
good  working  basis  for  the  advertising  and  selling  depart- 
mentj  I  left  Mr.  "Jones"  to  run  the  machine. 

Present  Conditions. 

I  have  just  returned  from  a  visit  to  the  old  gentleman. 

He  is  "d-e-l-i-g-h-t-e-d!" 

He  has  driven  his  enemy  in  full  rout  from  the  chosen 
battle-ground. 

His  old  dealers  have  come  back  to  the  fold. 

Consumer  demand  has  increased  to  a  point  where  his 
product  has  more  permanent  friends  than  ever  before. 

And  now  he  has  switched  his  heavy  local  advertising  and 
his  special  salesmen  to  another  territory,  and  is  in  the  thick 
of  another  "reformation"  campaign. 

U 


Chapter  IX:  The  Best  Doctor  Cheapest  in  the  End 


Already,  he  says,  his  ratio  of  sales  promises  such  an  in- 
crease that  he  will  practically  have  regained  by  the  end 
of  the  year  all  that  he  had  lost.  ,  i     • 

In  thinking  the  matter  over  he  has  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  his  mistake  lay  in  trying  to  save  money  on  doctor  s 
fees,"  as  he  humorously  called  it.  ,   .    ,.     »  i, 

"It's  like  paying  $10.00  to  an  inexperienced  doctor,  ne 
said,  "instead  of  paying  $15.00  and  getting  the  best.  I 
didn't  save  much  on  the  fee  and  the  prescription  ot  the 
doctor  who  didn't  know  left  me  worse  off  than  I  was  betore 
I  took  his  medicine."  ^  ^ 

While  not  agreeing  entirely  with  Jones,  1  am  sure 
the  little  problem  submitted  to  me  teaches  the  lesson  of 
not  trying  to  cover  too  much  space  with  a  limited  campaign. 
Either  spend  enough  and  do  enough  to  make  it  all  first 
grade  work,  or  else  concentrate  on  a  single  section,  or 
market,  until  that  has  been  put  in  good  shape. 

Then  expand. 


S7 


'  /'/ 


Chapter  X:  "Penny  Wise,  Pound  Foolish" 


CHAPTER  X 


"Penny  Wise,  Pound  Foolish" 


A 

July. 


DVEETISING  don't  pay,"  affirmed  one  of  a  group 
of  men  seated  in  the  rotundji  of  a  well-known  hotel 
in  a  town  in  the  Middle  West,  one  hot  afternoon  last 


I  was  on  my  way  back  from  the  investigation  of  an  in- 
teresting ease  in  California.  It  had  been  a  simple  enough 
problem  to  solve,  but  because  of  the  wonderful  effect  its 
solution  had  had  on  the  manufacturer,  I  confess  I  was  feel- 
ing just  a  triie  elated  over  my  share  in  producing  his 
ekmgQ  of  mind. 

So  that  this  bald,  hoary-headed  old  "chestnut"  fired, 
broadside  in  such  an  unceremonious  manner  roused  my 
fighting  blood  on  the  spot. 

"Then  the  men  who  spent  that  six  hundred  and  some 
odd  million  dollars  for  advertising  last  year  must  be  a 
pack  of  fools — in  your  opinion,"  I  suggested. 

"Well!"  the  man  smiled — he  was  good-natured  enough 
about  it—"  'fools*  isn't  a  fiice  word.  And  I  would  hardly 
like  to  use  it.  But  I  decidedly  think  they  are  mistaken. 
I  hme  tried  It  out  and  I  know  what  I  am  talking  about." 

There  was  no  occasion  to  prolong  the  argument  at  that 
time,  but  I  made  an  appointment  to  meet  the  man  in  his 
room  that  evening  and  go  into  the  subject.  It  looked  to 
me  like  another  little  problem  for  "Boulder." 

Statement  of  the  Problem. 

It  appeared  that  Mr.  Brown  (that  isn't  his  real  name, 
but  it  will  serve  for  purposes  of  illustration)  was  a  man- 
ufacturer of  a  certain  specialty  article  that  appealed  to  peo- 
ple in  moderately  well-to-do  circumstances.  It  would  likely 
be  JMiught  by  residents  of  cities  of  a  population  of,  say, 
Io,iMiO  and  upward. 

He  had  handled  it  for  a  long  time  through  the  jobbers, 
manufacturing  it  under  their  home  brands,  and  in  no  case 

IS 


did  he  use  an  individual  or  distinguishing  trade  mark  of 
his  own. 

Becoming  interested  in  publications  devoted  to  advertis- 
ing and  salesmanship,  and  having  joined  an  association 
where  there  were  frequent  discussions  of  such  subjects, 
he  had  decided  that  the  thing  for  him  to  do  was  to  estab- 
lish his  own  trade  mark,  and  secure  the  benefit  of  a  per- 
manent reputation  for  his  article. 

He  realized  that  it  would  be  a  "pull"  to  swing  the  job- 
bers into  line,  and  that  he  might  have  to  break  with  some 
of  them  who  would  likely  refuse  to  handle  the  article  un- 
less with  their  house  brand  on  it. 

In  order  to  offset  this  danger  he  was  advised  to  insti- 
tute a  campaign  of  consumer  and  dealer  advertising  ex- 
ploiting the  new  trade  mark  and  showing  that  it  was  the 
same  article  that  had  been  sold  before  under  various  job- 
bers' brands. 

This,  he  said,  had  been  done  and  a  year  had  now  passed 
since  the  new  method  of  merchandising  had  been  installed. 

And  the  reason  for  his  unbelief  in  advertising  was  sim- 
ply that  business  had  fallen  off,  orders  were  not  only  fewer 
in  number,  but  less  in  amount,  the  house  had  lost  many  of 
its  jobber  accounts  had  not  "hooked  up"  well  with  dealers 
direct,  and  things,  generally,  were  in  a  bad  way. 

This  was  the  situation  when  I  talked  it  over  with  him 
last  July. 

Seeking  for  a  Clue  to  the  Trouble. 

"What  do  you  think?"  Brown  asked. 

"There  are  only  two  places  where  difficulty  can  arise," 
I  replied.  "In  your  own  establishment,  or  in  the  dealer's 
store.  Because  if  the  dealer  hammers  his  jobber  hard 
enough  the  jobber  will  carry  your  line.  And  if  it  is  to 
his  interest  to  do  so  the  dealer  can  very  heavily  influence 
the  consumer.  It  is  all  very  well  and  necessary  to  adver- 
tise  to  the  consumer.  Don't  understand  me  that  I  have 
any  idea  of  doing  away  with  that. 

"Yet,  at  the  same  time,  it  is  also  very  necessary  to  be 
*in  right'  with  your  dealer.     Else  he  can — and  will — use 

89 


\ 


I 


'f  (f 


HMdm  Causes  of  Reckless  Advertising  Waste 


all  his  large  influence  with  the  buyer  against  your  product 
mmd  in  favor  of  some  other  that  he  will  substitute. 

"So  my  proposition  is — if  agreeable  to  you — that  I  take 
up  these  two  sources  of  difficulty  and  see  what  I  can  find 

out." 

From  what  Brown  had  told  me  it  seemed  to  me  that 
the  probability  was  that  the  difficulty  ^ay  with  the  dealer 
end.  For  Brown's  detailed  information  of  his  campaign 
appeared  to  show  excellent  planning  and  able  management 
of  the  factory  and  office  end  of  the  business.  His  state- 
ment of  the  advertising  indicated  careful  selection  of  me- 
diums, convincing  copy,  etc.,  and  so  the  dealer  tie-up  was 
evidently  the  weak  point. 

I  have  been  fortunate  in  my  diagnosis  of  the  causes  of 
adveitising  waste  and  always  save  a  lot  of  time  going 
direct  to  the  sore  spot. 

I  made  a  trip  over  some  of  Brown's  average  sales  ter- 
ritory. And  interviewed  dealers  everywhere  about  his 
goods  and  those  of  his  competitors. 

Among  the  latter  I  found  a  number  of  his  old  jobbers 
who  had  tied  up  with  other  manufacturers  who  were  will- 
ing to  manufacture  unbranded  goods  and  mark  them  with 
the  jobber's  name  and  label. 

Some  dealers  told  me  one  thing;  some  another.  But  by 
potting  them  all  together  I  managed  to  arrive  at  a  pretty 
fair  decision  about  the  situation  as  far  as  the  dealers  were 

concerned. 

Brown's  goods  were  acknowledged  to  be  the  best  on  the 
market  Even  jobbers'  department  managers  on  whom  I 
culled,  admitted  this,  under  a  sort  of  veiled  system  of  in- 
terrogation that  I  used. 

Practically  all  of  the  jobbers  told  me  they  had  no  ob- 
jection to  handling  Brown's  goods  under  his  own  trade 
mark,  if  the  dealer  was  satisfied  to  place  as  large  orders 
for  them  under  the  new  brand  as  he  did  when  they  carried 
the  jobber's  house  label. 

But  they  said  the  trouble  was  that  people  did  not  know 
them,  and  that  the  dealer  could  not  move  them  as  rapidly 
as  he  had  done  before. 

This  seemed  to  indicate  a  lack  in  the  consumer  adver- 
tising somewhere. 


( 


Chapter  X:  ''Penny  Wise,  Pound  Foolish** 


f 


Dealers  Complain  of  Change  in  Price. 

The  dealers  agreed  to  this  to  a  certain  extent.  But  they 
had  another  excuse  for  not  pushing  the  goods. 

Most  of  them  claimed  that  they  could  not  make  as  good 
a  profit  from  the  Brown  goods  as  they  did  from  the  job- 
ber brands. 

This  puzzled  me,  as  T  could  not  see  why  there  should  be 
any  difference  of  this  kind  merely  on  account  of  the  change 
of  trade  mark  or  name. 


**He  smiled  as  he  saw  me,  stooped  to 
the  floor  and  picked  up  a  pin.' 

I  very  soon  discovered,  however,  that  the  price  was  not 
the  same. 

The  selling  price  was  unchanged,  but  Brown  had  reduced 
his  discounts  to  jobbers  so  as  to  partially  reimburse  himself 
for  his  advertising  outlay. 

It  was  not  much,  very  little,  in  fact,  and  it  could  not 
possibly  have  covered  his  entire  advertising  expenditure  if 
he  had  carried  this  out  on  anything  like  the  plan  outlined 
to  me. 

91 


I'll 


Hidden  Causes  of  Reckless  Advertising  Waste 


Chapter  X:  '"Penny  Wise^  Pound  Foolish"' 


M 


Yet  little  as  the  increase  of  price  was,  it  proved  suf- 
ficient to  antagonize  the  dealers  and  they,  as  with  one  con- 
sent, had  suppressed  the  goods,  knifed  the  advertising  and 
reduced  their  orders  to  jobbers. 

"But,"  I  argued,  in  talking  with  one  of  the  dealers,  a 
most  Intelligent  and  fair-minded  young  feHow  who  was  a 
"live  wire"  if  I  ever  saw  om,  "if  Brown's  goods  are  adver- 
tised, and  the  other  brands  are  not,  why  cannot  you  sell 
enough  greater  volume  of  the  Brown  brand  to  more  tlian 
offset  any  slight  difference  in  price?" 

The  dealer  smiled.  Then  took  me  over  to  his  desk  and 
piilk^d  out  several  copies  of  National  publications,  metro- 
politan dailies,  and  his  local  papers. 

"Find  the  wonderful  advertising  of  Brown's  brand!"  he 
invited  me. 

And  I  did.  But  only  after  infinite  trouble,  and  with  the 
clue  to  the  problem  growing  ever  plainer  before  me. 

Back  to  Mr.  Brown  in  His  Own  Office. 

Then,  having  found  out  all  that  I  needed  from  the  job- 
ber and  the  dealer,  I  harked  back  to  Mr.  Brown  in  his 
own  office. 

"Mr.  Brown,"  I  said,  "I  want  permission  to  wander  all 
over  this  plant  of  yours  and  poke  my  nose  into  everything 
except  the  cost  accounting  and  the  profit  and  loss  ledger. 
Absolutely  in  confidence." 

"Go  ahead,"  he  replied. 

I  sat  down  in  a  chair  where  I  could  command  a  good 
view  of  the  office  and  proceeded  to  use  my  eyes. 

A  young  man  got  up  from  a  nearby  desk,  walked  the 
length  of  the  office,  then  turned,  walked  back,  snapped  off 
the  electric  light  and  retraced  his  steps.  In  a  few  min- 
utes he  came  back,  snapped  on  the  light  and  resumed  his 
work. 

A  stenographer  at  another  desk  broke  the  leads  of  all 
her  pencils,  then  stopped  in  the  middle  of  a  letter  to 
sharpen  two  or  three  of  them.     Meanwhile  the  man  who 

was  dictating  looked  out  of  the  window. 

The  boy  who  opened  mail,  after  clipping  open  the  en- 
velopes and  removing  the  letters  went  over  aD  the  envelopes 

■TiWl 


again,  cut  them  open,  laid  them  flat,  then  piled  them  under 
a  paper  weight. 

"What's  that  for  sonny?"  I  asked. 

"Use  'em  for  scratch  paper,"  he  grinned.  "Saves  buy- 
ing scratch  pads." 

I  got  up  and  strolled  over  to  the  desk  of  the  young  man 
who  had  snapped  out  the  electric  lights  every  time  he  left 

his  desk. 

"Why  do  you  do  that?"  I  questioned, 

"Saves  electric  light.    That's  orders." 

"Don't  you  take  up  a  good  deal  of  time  doing  it,  and 
don't  the  sockets  wear  out?" 

"Yes,  it  takes  time  all  right,  and  we  do  have  a  lot  of 
repair  men  here.     Good  thing,  though.     Saves  money  I" 

Brown  came  through  the  office  while  I  was  standing  at 
the  young  man's  desk. 

He  smiled  as  he  saw  me,  stooped  to  the  floor,  picked 
up  a  pin,  carried  it  across  to  a  desk,  put  it  in  a  glass  pin- 
holder  and  came  back  to  me  again. 

"Your're  not  working  very  hard,"  he  said,  jokingly. 

"Sometimes  the  horse  with  the  finest  action  in  the  front 
legs  doesn't  cover  the  ground  as  fast  as  the  one  that  trots 
quietly,"  I  retorted.  "I'm  not  working  very  hard,  but 
I'm  accomplishing  more  at  this  minute  than  any  man  on 
the  floor." 

And  I  was. 

"Penny  Wise,  Pound  Foolish." 

The  penny  is  one  of  the  smallest  coins  in  the  English 
currency.  The  pound  is  one  of  highest  value.  "Penny 
wise,  pound  foolish"  is  an  old  English  proverb. 

It  means  the  same  as  to  "save  at  the  spigot  and  waste 
at  the  bung." 

That  was  why  Brown  said  "advertising  don*t  pay." 

Because  he  was  small,  narrow,  penurious  in  his  business 
spending. 

His  advertising  was  written  by  a  cheap  man,  and  was 
without  the  "punch"  that  brings  business. 

His  space  was  about  half  the  size,  and  his  list  of  me- 
diums about  half  the  length  they  should  have  been. 

9t 


II 


in 


mOmM 


Hidden  Comms  of  Reckless  Advertising  Waste 


Mm  correspoedence  department  consisted  of  one  young 
man  at  a  pine  table.  He  got  rid  of  lots  of  mail.  Oh,  yes ! 
But  Ms  letters,  brought  few  orders. 

His  catalog,  follow-up  matter,  dealer's  circulars,  "House 
Organ*'  (he  had  the  nerve  to  call  it  that)  and  other  dealer 
promotion  stuff  was  simply  a  joke  to  a  man  who  knew  what 
such  a  business  demanded. 

His  plan  was  cheap,  his  execution  was  cheap,  his  em- 
ployes were  cheap,  his  pencils  were  cheap,  he  spent  more 
time  picking  up  pins  and  snapping  off  lights,  and  trying 
to  get  along  without  buying  scratch  pads  than  all  the  money 
he  Maved  in  a  dozen  years. 

He  killed  his  trade  mark  plan  with  dealers  on  the  first 
jump  by  trying  to  "save"  part  of  the  money  he  intended 
to  spend  for  advertising  by  raising  the  price  a  few  cents 
to  the  jobber.    Who  promptly  raised  it  to  the  dealer. 

Understand,  this  principle  was  all  right.  But  he  didn't 
handle  it  in  the  right  way,  and  it  won't  always  work  so 
soon  in  a  campaign.  After  a  product  dominates  and  there 
is  a  wmss  wwvement  to  buy  it  the  plan  has  proved  effective. 
But  not  on  the  first  move  for  a  product  such  as  Brown 
:inannfactured. 

I  told  Brown  all  this,  in  just  about  this  language. 

I  warmed  Mm  in  advance  not  to  lose  his  temper.  Told 
Mm  that  I  was  using  the  surgeon's  knife  and  that  it  likely 
would  hnrtm 

How  Proper  Methods  Saved  the  Day. 

Brown  is  all  right.  He  took  his  medicine — with  a  wry 
face — ^but  he  took  it. 

Together  we  reorganized  things.  We  slammed  things 
around  in  that  old  office  in  great  style.  We  didn't  need 
to  touch  the  factory,  which  was  running  fairly  well  and 
fcally  turning  out  a  fine  article. 

We  put  a  corking  good  advertising  man  in  there  whose 
Hilary  ran  close  to  five  figures.  And  a  correspondent  who 
Ciiuld  write  letters  that  bring  business.  We  boosted  the 
price  of  lead  pencils  till  we  got  a  grade  that  would  last. 
And  we  let  the  Mghts  burn  when  a  derk  left  his  desk  for 

94 


Chapter  X:  ''Penny  Wise,  Pound  Foolish'' 


five  minutes.     It  cost  less  to  leave  them  on  than  to  turn 

them  off. 

We  went  over  that  advertising  layout  and  we  did  things 
to  it  that  made  Brown  giddy.     But  he  was  game!  ^ 

And  we  framed  up  a  campaign  on  the  dealers  and  job- 
bers, at  the  old  prices  that  provoked  them  to  enthusiastic 
appreciation  of  it  by  return  mail. 

We  had  in  all  the  salesmen  to  a  dinner  and  we  both 
talked  to  them.  We  put  them  in  a  frame  of  mind  where 
Ihey  were  willing  to  talk— and  theij  talked! 

They  gave  us  more  good  pointers  in  two  hours  than  the 
house  had  had  before  in  two  years. 

And  when  they  left,  every  man  was  so  filled  with  ginger 
that  you  could  hardly  hold  them  in  town.  They  wanted 
to  get  right  back  on  their  territory  and  beat  records. 

That  dinner  cost  something— both  for  the  bill  of  fare, 
the  cigars  and  the  traveling  expenses  of  the  men  who  at- 
tended it.  ,  ,        ,  »^ 

But  I  miss  my  guess  if  the  first  week  s  orders  won  t  pay 

for  it  all. 

Today  Brown's  order  sheets  are  a  joy  to  tired  eyes.  His 
office  is  a  six-cylinder,  100  horsepower  ball-bearing  engine. 
He  spends  his  money  for  advertising  and  promotion  v^ry 
judiciously— for  you  can't  change  a  man's  habits  over 
night.  But  he  spends  it  "like  a  drunken  sailor,"  and  it 
comes  hack  faster  than  his  cashier  can  rake  it  in. 

I'd  like  to  take  you  over  there  and  show  you  this  busi- 
ness—if I  only  dared— just  to  demonstrate  what  a  "penny 
wise,  pound  foolish"  policy  can  do,  and  what  happens  when 
you  try  the  other  method. 


!i 


III 


95 


( 


Defective  Cog  Nearly  Wrecks 
Great  Machine 


1  ADMIT  lliftt   I  was  the   "Good   Samaritan,"  in   the 
itory  that  follows. 

But  it  might  juat  as  easily  have  been  someone  else, 
because  the  difficulty  was  plain  enough  to  any  man  with 
C¥en  a  moderate  amount  of  well-balanced  "gray  jelly**  in 
Ms  head. 

Yet  the  president  of  the  company  couldn't,  or  wouldn't 

I  had  been  tra¥eling  for  several  hours  with  a  friend 
a  representative  of  a  fairly  well-known  advertising  agency! 
His  destination  was  a  large  machinery  plant,  and  he  hailed 
my  appearance— so  he  said— as  most  opportune.  Because 
it  was  a  hard  nut  to  crack,  and  he  feared  that  unaided  he 
could  not  get  away  with  the  prospect. 

It  seemed  that  the  man  he  had  to  deal  with  was  a  most 
opinionated  person;  one  of  those  aggravating  individuals 
who  thinks  he  knows  it  all,  and  who  believes  that  no  man 
in  the  world  can  tell  Mm  anything. 

The  board  of  directors  took  no  part  in  the  detail  of  the 
factory,  leaving  the  entire  conduct  of  the  business  to  this 
one  man,  the  president.  This  in  itself  seemed  to  me  as 
most  unwise.  Even  a  minority  ownership  should  have  had 
some  voice  in  the  management.  But  my  friend  told  me 
that  the  president  was  not  a  majority  stockholder,  so  that 
it  was  really  more  a  matter  of  carelessness  or  indifference 
on  the  part  of  Ms  business  associates  than  it  was  a  lack  of 
power. 

On  the  Surface  the  Impression  Was  Inspiring. 

Barely  have  I  visited  a  plant  where  general  conditions 

io  impressed  me. 

The  group  of  buildings  was  of  great  extent,  large,  light, 
*"_T  "'anged,  and  hundreds  of  men  were  busily  en- 
IPpd  at  lathe,  forge,  dril  and  wood-working  machinery, 

•c 


Chapter  XI:  Defective  Cog  Nearly  Wrecks  Great  Machine 

In  the  large  general  offices  scores  of  clerks,  bookkeepers, 
stenographers,  department  managers,  etc.,  were  hard  at 
work.  Everyone  seemed  to  be  busy.  Everyone  had  plenty 
of  work  on  hand. 

The  desks  of  the  order  clerks  were  piled,  deep,  with 
pink  and  yellow  order  forms,  which  I  was  informed  were 
rush  orders  from  agents  all  over  the  United  States. 

The  shipping  clerk — under  instructions  to  show  me 
through  his  department— told  me  how  they  were  crowded 
with  shipments,  and  how  more  goods  were  going  out  than 
ever  before  in  the  history  of  the  house. 

"We're  sure  doing  a  whirlwind  business,"  he  said,  in  a 
gratified  tone.  "I  have  never  known  orders  so  good.  The 
stockholders  must  be  simply  coining  money!" 

My  friend  smiled,  meaningly,  as  we  left  the  desk. 

"On  the  contrary,"  he  affirmed,  "I  honestly  believe  the 
concern  is  facing  the  worst  kind  of  a  business  crash.  That's 
where  my  problem  lies.  The  advertising  of  this  year 
must  pull  them  out  or  they  are  'dead  ones.*  ** 

It  seemed  that  he  had  met,  on  a  previous  trip,  the  son 
of  one  of  the  directors,  who  had  expressed  the  growing 
uneasiness  among  some  of  the  stockholders  as  to  the  rea- 
son why,  with  all  the  apparently  large  business  that  was 
being  done,  there  were  no  dividends. 

When  anyone  ventured  to  hint  this  to  the  president,  the 
man  in  charge  of  the  business,  he  flew  into  a  violent  rage, 
abused  everybody  and  everything  in  sight,  and  declared 
none  of  them  knew  anything,  that  he  was  almost  a  nervous 
wreck  from  worry  and  overwork,  and  this  was  all  the 
thanks  he  got.  But  he  failed,  nevertheless,  to  furnish  an 
answer  to  the  question  as  to  why  no  dividends  had  been 
forthcoming. 

The  Concern  a  Heavy  Advertiser. 

Now  this  business  had  been  excellently  well  advertised. 

It  is  true  there  were  things  about  the  copy  and  the  me- 
diums that  could  be  criticized;  but  on  the  whole  the  adver- 
tising was  such  as  should  have  been  successful. 

97 


i'lii 


11 


HMm  Causes  of  Reckless  Advertising  Waste 


Am  a  matter  of  fact  it  was  productive,  as  the  order  clerk's 
i]'f*.8lc  liore  'witnesS' 

The  proposition  that  had  brought  my  friend  to  the  plant 
was  a  suggestion  that  the  advertising  should  be  largely 
increased  so  that  even  more  business  might  be  done. 

It  was  evidently  the  president's  impression  that  the  dif- 
ficulty lay  in  the  fact  that  they  were  not  doing  enough 

business. 

He  did  not  say  so,  as  far  as  I  could  determine,  but  from 
our  talks  with  him  I  sensed  the  conviction  that  the  lack 
of  dividends  worried  him  more  than  he  cared  to  admit. 

To  shorten  the  story,  my  friend  got  the  order  for  the 
season's  advertising,  and  then  and  there  we  went  over  the 
detail  of  the  copy  for  the  new  campaign. 

He  was  good  enough  to  ask  me  to  assist  him  in  getting 
it  out,  and  we  spent  several  days  at  the  hotel  framing  it 

aU  up. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  in  the  course  of  its  preparation 
we  dug  into  everything  in  the  plant.  Because  it  was  readily 
seen  that  a  campaign  based  on  absolute  analysis  of  condi- 
tions was  imperatively  demanded  under  the  critical  circum- 
stances existing. 

We  finally  concluded  our  work  and  submitted  it  all  to 
the  president.  After  some  discussion  and  argument  it  was 
approved,  also  the  list  of  proposed  mediums. 

The  Hunt  Begins  for  the  Trouhle  Snag. 

"There  are  one  or  two  points  in  this  connection  about 
which  I  would  like  to  ask  some  information,"  I  ventured. 
"That  Is,  the  price  of  the  article  and  the  quality  of 
material,  tests,  etc.,  of  one  of  the  new  parts  that  you  added 

a  year  or  so  ago. 

Instantly  the  man  broke  into  one  of  his  characteristic 
"brain  storms."  He  abused  me  as  much  as  he  dared.  Told 
me  I  was  there  as  an  advertising  man,  not  as  an  engineer, 
or  a  factory  superintendent,  and  that  the  business  of  an 
advertising  man  was  to  keep  his  hands  off  the  other  depart- 
ments of  the  business. 


Chapter  XI:  Defective  Cog  Nearly  Wrecks  Great  Machine 

I  attempted  to  explain  to  him  that  in  the  modern  de- 
velopment of  advertising  everything  connected  with  the 
business,  the  production,  selling,  etc.,  was  all  a  part  of  the 
advertising  campaign,  and  must  be  considered  by  any  good 
advertising  manager  or  advertising  agent. 

I  tried  to  call  attention  to  the  failure  of  the  business  to 
pay  dividends,  even  in  view  of  the  big  sales  they  were  mak- 


i 


"The  man  broke  Into  one  of  his  characteristic  brafai  storms  and  then 
told  me  the  business  of  an  advertising  man  was  to  keep 
his  hands  off  other   departments. 

lug,  but  he  shut  me  off  on  this  so  short  that  it  made  my 

ears  sore. 

I  soon  saw  that  it  was  useless  to  attempt  to  argue  with 
an  angry  man,  so  we  left.  My  friend  was  happy  because 
he  had  his  prospect's  name  on  the  dotted  line  of  his  con- 
tract, but  I  confess  I  was  far  from  satisfied  with  the  out- 
come. 


99 


II 


Hiddm  Camm  of  Rechkss  AdveHidng  Waste 


I  had  an  uneaay  suspicion  that  even  the  new  advertising, 
improved  as  it  was  over  the  previous  campaigns,  would  tail 
to  set  the  business  right 

There  was  something  deeper;  some  condition  that  was 
sufficient  to  counteract  all  the  good  the  advertising  could  do. 
And,  my  professional  instinct  being  aroused,  I  determined 
to  find  the  sore  spot,  and  if  possible  cure  it. 

The  Appeal  to  the  Board  of  Directors. 

My  friend  had  gone  on  his  way.  He  is  a  good  fellow 
solicitor,  but  he  isn't  what  I  would  call  a  really  thorough 
advertising  man,  because,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  he  left  with 
the  feeling  that  his  advertising  was  after  all  not  going  to 
make  the  business  fwif . 

I  told  him  so,  and  his  reply  was  that  it  was  up  to  the 
manufacturer.  That  hw  business  was  merely  to  write  the 
advertising  as  he  was  told,  and  the  organization  must  sup- 
ply the  rest 

Which,  I  admit,  is  the  generally  received  notion  of  ad- 

▼crtising.  , 

I  took  the  bull  by  the  horns  this  time.  I  went  to  the 
members  of  the  board  of  directors.  I  told  them  who  I 
was,  what  wc  had  done,  explained  the  situation  as  well  as 
I  knew  how,  and  put  it  up  to  them. 

As  far  as  I  was  concerned,  I  said,  it  was  simply  a  case 
of  "professionar'  curiosity.  It  meant  nothing  to  me  if 
the  business  lost  money.  And  I  had  no  interest,  one  way 
or  another,  in  the  president. 

The  upshot  of  it  was  that  I  went  back  to  the  factory  with 
authority  to  make  a  clean  sweep  of  every  nook  and  corner 
©f  it  in  the  endeavor  to  ascertain  why  it  was  that  the  adver- 
tising, while  apparently  productive,  had  failed  to  put  the 
business  in  a  paying  condition,  ,     *  *    k 

And  to  ensure  that  the  new  campaign,  then  about  to  be- 
gin, should  be  more  successful. 

What  the  president  said  need  not  be  recorded.  It  was 
the  chairman  of  the  board  of  directors  who  did  the  talking 
this  time  and,  for  once,  the  autocrat  was  humble. 

Well!  I  went  through  the  analyzing  process,  and,  as 
Is  aiialy  the  case,  the  trouble  was  fairly  easy  to  locate. 

liH 


Chapter  XI:  Defective  Cog  Nearly  Wrecks  Great  Machine 

Two  causes,  as  I  had  suspected,  were  to  blame  for  the 

failure  to  pay  dividends.  ^  i.    ..•  >.   *.i,^ 

One  waTthatthe  factory-cost  system  was  defechv.   the 

result  being  that  every  article  of  a  certain  kind  that  had 
'£  sold  leant  a  g»«  -  Jhe  -pany.    The  ^ss  amounted 

^ThlK'^f tlrirotLrLds  their  sh^pping-plat. 

%r;\rnra^!^ftrSrLr^^^ 

o^e  Spproximatd^  20,000  to   80,000   sold,   or  nearly 

$40,000  to  $60,000  a  year. 

Then  there  was  another  article  where  an  error  in  the 
shape  Md  material  of  which  a  certain  part  was  composed 
aXd  nlerous  breakages  in  the  hands  of  »-s  and  nnd«r 
the  guarantee  of  the  manufacturer  each  one  of  these  de- 
fective articles  was  at  once  replaced  with  a  perfect  one 
I  had  suspected  this  because  of  the  numerous  returns  ot 

this  particular  article.  .  „ 

By  reason  of  this  expense,  the  small  margin  of  profit 
on  each  article  was  wiped  out,  and  a  loss  incurred  instead. 
Itlay  seem  incredible  that  such  laxity  in  cost-account- 
ing could  exist,  but  I  venture  the  assertion  that  there  are 
hundreds,  if  not  thousands  of  factories  f  ^  P"^«^  "| 
made  "hit  or  miss."  as  in  this  case,  instead  of  being  based 
on  definite  and  absolutely  accurate  cost  figures. 

The  Remedy. 

Here,  then,  was  the  situation.    But  how  remedy  it? 

The  first  thing  to  do  was  to  introduce  a  better  element 
of  control;  to  curb  the  "one  man"  power  that  had  per- 
mitted such  a  condition  to  exist. 

Which  was  promptly  done,  and  the  really  able  president 
was  given  so  much  less  work  to  do  that  he  had  time  to  de- 
vote to  matters  which  heretofore  had  been  left  to  run  them- 
selves as  best  they  might. 

101 


'IH  I' 


lill  I 


1 


Hidden  Cmmes  of  Reckless  Advertising  Waste 

The  defect  in  material  of  the  smaller  article  was  readily 
set  right,  as  soon  as  called  to  the  board's  attention,  by  a 
little  adequate  engineering. 

Bnt  the  matter  of  the  price  of  the  larger  article  was  more 
serious. 

It  was  widely  advertised  at  a  definite  price.  And  the 
price  was  even  then  slightly  higher  than  two  or  three  com-. 
Ung  articles  of  excellfnt  Luf,  almost  as  good  as  this  one. 

To  increase  the  price  was  out  of  the  question^  the  di- 
rectors assured  me. 

And  to  reduce  the  quality  was  not  to  be  thouirht  of. 

It  being  left  to  me.  in  .  measnre,  to  decide,  I  suggested 
a  stroke  that  made  the  directors  gasp. 

It  wM  simpi^  to  advertise  an  increase  of  price  consid-^ 
erabl^  higher  than  was  really  necessary. 

In  fact  to  make  the  extra  profits  of  the  next  two  or  three 
years  pay  back  the  losses  of  the  previous  ones. 

To  make  a  mrtue  of  its  costing  more  than  other  makes. 

To  fetdmre  the  higher  price  in  the  advertising.  To  make 
it  as  prominent  as  possible,  and  claim,  boldly,  that  it  was 
«>  simply  because  the  .rticle  was  so  much  higher  in  quality 
than  its  competitors. 

It  was  .  iLg  time  before  I  succeeded  in  getting  the  di- 
rectors  to  agree  to  that  course.  And  even  when  they  had 
voted  to  remodel  the  season's  advertising  on  that  basis  they 
were  half  incBned  to  back  out  at  the  last  minute. 

I  took  it  as  a  personal  compliment  that  the  scheme  finally 
went  through.  And  very  proud  I  am  of  the  result  which 
has  just  been  conveyed  to  me  in  a  letter  from  the  general 

III  licl  liUl'lf  c*  . 

The  twelve  months'  business  that  has  passed  since  this 
all  happened  has  been  productive  of  wonderful  things  in 
that  factory. 

True,  they  haven't  paid  a  dividend  yet,  but  that  has  been 
simply  because  they  wish  first  to  provide  for  a  reserve 
fund ;  and  they  plan  to  introduce  also  a  number  of  better- 
ments and  improvements  that  the  board  has  decided  upon. 

They  have  a  committee  now  to  hold  weekly  meetings  at 
the  factory  and  the  closer  touch  has  suggested  to  them 
many  things. 

lot 


Chapter  XI:  De}ective  Cog  Nearly  Wrecks  Great  Machine 

The  automatic  cost  system  now  in  use  checks  itself  in 
such  a  way  that  the  occurrence  of  a  loss  of  even  a  small 
margin  on  any  article  is  impossible.  And  any  item  that 
does  not  show  a  satisfactory  profit  is  discontinued. 

Moreover  the  shake-up  has  thrown  light  o^  ««°^« /^^^^ 
economies  that  have  been  most  helpful  m  adding  to  the 

total  of  the  year's  profits.  .        .  ^  „„  ti,^ 

My  friend  the  advertising  man  confessed  to  me,  on  the 
occasion  of  the  signing  of  another  year's  contract  for  al- 
most twice  the  amount  of  the  last,  that  he  had  fully  ex- 
pected that  the  one  he  closed  the  day  we  were  at  the  tac- 
torv  together  would  be  the  last. 

"But  I  figured,"  he  explained,  "that  I  might  as  well 
have  it  as  anyone  because  the  thing  was  going  bust  anyway 
and  no  amount  of  advertising  could  save  it." 

His  difficulty  was  that  he  did  not  realize  that  advertising 
goes  deeper  than  merely  copy-writing  and  the  selection  of 
a  list  of  mediums.  It  is  intimately  concerned  with  sales- 
manship and  merchandising;  even,  as  I  demonstrated,  with 
cost-accounting  and  engineering.  t.     i j   i, 

A  good  advertising  manager,  or  agency,  should  have 
the  ability  and  willingness  to  look  deeper  than  the  mere 
outer  surface  when  undertaking  the  pushing  of  a  business. 

If  conditions  are  not  right  they  should  be  put  right  be- 
fore a  line  of  advertising  reaches  the  newspapers  and  mag- 
azines; and  before  any  eff'ort  is  made  to  secure  new  or  en- 
larged distribution.  3  r    *.- 

A  gear  wheel  may  be  never  so  perfect,  but  one  defective 
cog  may  wreck  the  whole  great  machine. 

If  the  cog  of  cost-accounting,  or  of  electrical  engineering 
(as  in  this  case)  is  faulty  the  best  advertising  in  the  world 
may  only  operate  to  hasten  the  day  of  business  collapse. 


lOS 


CHAPTER  XII 


Mail  Order  by  Hit  or  Miss 


IN  this,  my  last  article  of  the  present  series,  I  design 
to  call  attention  to  a  few  of  the  reasons  why  some 
mail  order  advertiaing  fails.     I  will  have  to  treat  this 
more  collectively  than  I  have  some  of  my  other  investiga- 
tions, as  I  am  anxious  to  cover  a  nomher  of  causes  of  waste, 
and  my  space  is  limited. 

Faulty  Analysis  of  Circulation 

A  mail  order  business  discovered  that  the  cost  of  in- 
qnlries  was  constancy  increasing,  sales  per  inquiry  con- 
tinually averaged  lower  and  average  sale-value  kept  drop- 
ping from  season  to  season. 

The  product  was  an  article  that  was  manufactured  in 
several  styles  and  at  various  prices.  The  demand  was  wide, 
some  purchasers  buying  the  better-grade  article,  while 
others— probably  for  price  reasons — ^selected  the  cheaper 
grades. 

Mediums  used  were  women's  papers,  standard  maga- 
lines,  small  town  papers  and  National  weeklies. 

On  the  higher  grade  articles  the  high-class  magazines 
and  women's  papers  paid  best. 

A  considerable  volume  of  business  had  been  built  up, 
but  at  the  time  I  became  acquainted  with  the  problem  the 
gross  sales  for  several  years  had  been  almost  stationary, 
and  the  increasing  amount  spent  for  advertising,  together 
with  the  growing  depreciation  of  returns  was  becoming 
serious. 

So  much  so  that  the  owner  of  the  business  contemplated 
selling  out  and  going  into  some  other  line,  before  he  had 

begun  to  actually  lose  money  instead  of  making  any. 
A  condition  like  this  may  be  due,  of  course,  to  various 

JKKk  iJJiL.'illiii  JHU  jjaaiL  jHtt 

'Cftoses. 

In  this  particular  instance,  however,  I  discovered  that 
fhe  fault  evidently  lay  in  the  fact  that  sufficient  care  had 


\\ 


Chapter  XII:  Mail  Order  by  Hit  or  Miss 

not  been  devoted  to  the  making  up  of  the  list  of  mediums, 
and  also  that  the  copy  was  not  properly  used. 

For  instance,  publications  were  used  that  were,  except 
for  a  limited  percentage,  bought  and  read  almost  entirely 
by  a  class  of  people  who  rarely,  if  ever,  would  buy  the 
article  by  mail.  The  loss  of  invested  advertising  money 
was  heavy.  The  cost  of  inquiries  and  sales  per  dollar  of 
advertising  was  far  too  high. 

Yet  the  advertiser  used  the  publications  because,  he  said, 
"It  gives  tone  and  class  to  the  product." 

In  other  cases,  publications  were  selected  that  were  read 
almost  entirely  by  the  opposite  class.  They  went  to  peo- 
ple of  small  incomes,  limited  education,  and  a  low  grade 
of  intelligence. 

The  cost  of  inquiry  in  this  class  of  mediums  was  very  low 
— but  the  sales  per  dollar  of  advertising  were  so  small 
that  a  blind  man  could  have  seen  that  the  advertising  was 
not  being  read  by  a  productive  class. 

But  the  advertiser  was  "dippy"  on  getting  inquiries  at 
low  cost  and  paid  little  attention  to  the  real  test  of  sales 
per  dollar  of  advertising. 

His  copy,  I  found,  was  written  at  the  last  minute.  He 
wrotfe  it  himself  because  he  refused  to  pay  an  advertising 
agency  for  copy  service,  and  "anyway,"  he  said,  "I  can 
write  better  copy  about  my  own  business  than  anyone  else." 

So  the  copy  that  went  into  the  high-class,  cultured  in- 
telligent mediums  was  of  exactly  the  same  kind  that  went 
to  the  half -educated,  limited  readers  of  the  "popular"  pub- 
lications. 

It  struck  what  the  advertiser  called  "a  happy  medium." 
Which  was  below  the  plane  of  living  and  intelligence  of 
the  better  grade  buyers.      And    above   the    heads    of    the 


"masses." 


So  it  failed  in  both  cases  to  reach  full  effectiveness. 

I  told  the  man  this.    At  much  greater  length,  to  be  sure. 

But  I  could  do  nothing  for  him. 

"Ephraim"  was  "joined  to  his  idols." 

I  let  him  alone. 


106 


Ji;  il 


Hidden  Cmmes  of  Reckless  Advertising  Waste 


Croods  Did  Not  Look  Like  Catalog 

Ulustrations. 

TMs  WM  a  case  of  a  mail  order  advertiser  who  sold 
women's  and  cliildreo's  clothing. 

In  answer  to  inquiries  developed  by  advertising  in  the 
women's  papers  he  sent  out  two  catalogs — one  of  women's 
wear  and  one  of  children's. 

His  sales  were  good,  but  the  percentage  of  complaints 
and  returns  was  out  of  all  reason. 

Curiously  enough — he  said — ^the  women,  in  returning  the 
giiods,  gave  no  reason  whatever  for  so  doing.  Simply  said 
they  "were  not  as  represented"  and  demanded  their  money 
'bads. 

The  advertiser  had  several  ways  of  trying  to  hold  the 
sale.  By  offering  other  goods,  substituting  even  a  better 
grade,  at  times,  etc. 

But  in  nearly  every  case  his  efforts  failed  and  he  was 
obliged  to  refund. 

I  spent  some  time  in  his  office  one*  week  looking  over  this 
and  other  matters  connected  with  his  mail  order  system. 

I  very  soon  struck  what  I  felt  confident  to  be  the  clue 
tn  the  trouble.  Though  the  man  himself  seemed  to  con- 
siilfsr  the  point  a  trivial  one. 

It  was  simply  that  the  goods  with  which  he  filled  his 
m4em  difered  sligUly  from  the  illustrations  in  the  cat- 
alog. 

"No.  667,"  for  instance,  might  show  a  long  coat  with  a 
certain  style  of  cut  to  the  collar  and  a  definite  button 
system.  While  the  article  sent  in  response  to  the  order 
would  have  a  collar  cut  on  somewhat  different  lines  and 
possibly  four  instead  of  three  buttons. 

"But  I  am  sending  the  very  latest  style"  the  man  pro- 
tested, "and  I  tell  them  so  when  I  ship  it." 

"Then  why  doesn't  the  illustration  show  it?" 

"Why,  you  see,  it  costs  a  lot  of  money  to  make  all  those 
cuts  over  every  season,  so  I  have  them  trimmed  and  altered 
a  bit,  and  let  it  go  at  that." 

It  had  never  seemed  to  occur  to  this  man  that  women 
who  bought  the  class  of  goods  he  was  selling  were  looking 

106 


Chapter  XH:  Mail  Order  by  Bit  or  Miss 


m 

to  his  catdoK  as  a  style  index,  and  that  it  set  up  a  "sales 
I^Smcl"  at  onee  when  he  shipped  them  something  nnlie 

the  pictures.  .   , .    ,  .   j 

I  knew  of  a  curious  case  of  this  kmd  once. 

A  man  in  making  up  his  catalog  photographed  long 
coate  so  that  the  Up  appeared  to  be  from  r.ght  over  lej^ 
the  reverse  of  what  the  coats  really  were.  This,  it  wUl  be 
i;  seen,  was  because  he  had  stripped  ""d  rej--^  *; 
engraving,  in  order  to  make  the  figures  face  I'^J^'^T^ 
'"fte  book.  Quite  a  number  of  coats  bought  from  these 
illustrations  were  returned,  because  the  ^^^  "J"  ^^ 
in  the  orders  said  the  coats  were  different  from  the  cuts. 
They  didn't  button  the  tame  mag. 

Others  may  have  found  this  same  experience  with  re- 

Thif  mrS^used  his  last  year's  cuts  was  amenable  t» 
reason,  and  found  that  it  saved  him  money  to  throw  away 
all  out  of  date  cuts  at  the  close  of  each  season. 

The  loss   on  returned  goods  was  much  more  than  tfie 
extra  cost  of  catalog  cuts. 

A  Thing  That's  Worth  Doing  Is  Worth  Doing 

Well. 

Lots  of  men  who  will  instantly  agree  with  the  old  pro- 
verb, fail  to  see  how  it  applies  to  their  own  methods. 

A^  an  instance,  note  the  thousands  of  f^^^^^^J^^ 
use  follow-up  letters,  and  who  hnow  P'^f'fy''f^^''\^^ 
fiUed-in  name  and  address  should  f  ^^f ]^ /f  J^f  ..^^ 
of  the  letter,  and  that  the  signature  should  look  as  if  it  had 

been  signed  in  pen  and  ink.  .     ,    _..   ^i,  «  wm 

Yet  when  the  season  begins  and  time  is  short  they  will 
permit  thousands  of  follow-up  letters  to  go  out  that  might 
just  as  well  have  been  thrown  into  the  waste  basket  in 
the  first  place  and  have  saved  the  postage. 

Granted  that  in  some  cases  a  letter  can  be  sent  out 
without  any  fiUed-in  name  or  address,  and  even  under  one 
cent  postage,  and  still  bring  effective  resists. 

Yet  if  the  occasion  seems  to  demand  a  facsimile  letter, 
it  should  by  all  means  he  a  facsimile,  and  not  a  wretched 
botch  such  as  are  thousands  that  clutter  up  the  mail  bags. 

107 


illill 


HUdm  Causes  of  Reckless  Advertising  Wasie 


I  put  in  an  office  plan  of  follow-ups,  both  of  letters  and 
other  ilirect-inail  matter,  for  a  man  who  had  not  been 
realizing  anything  like  full  returns  from  his  advertising. 

He  had  plenty  of  inquiries,  but  the  sales,  which  were 
largely  resultant  from  the  follow-up  matter,  were  much 
below  what  he  had  every  right  to  expect. 

I  found  some  cheap  help  filling  in  letters  and  mailing 
them  in  tremendous  numbers,  but  in  a  slip-shod,  careless 
fashion,  as  if  the  sole  and  earthly  reason  for  sending  them 
out  was  to  get  them  out  of  the  office  and  into  the  mail. 

That  anjrthing  further  was  wanted  never  seemed  to  pene^ 
Irate  the  silly  heads  of  the  crowd  of  employes  who  did  the 
work. 

To  replace  the  whole  inefficient  crew  with  some  reaUy 
useful  people  took  me  just  a  week.  And  the  purchase  of 
a  few  dozen  typewriter  ribbons  and  a  little  more  care  in 
preparing  the  letters  made  all  the  difference  in  the  world 
in  the  responses  received. 

Closer  checking  of  orders  on  the  card  files,  better  sta- 
tionery, and  the  realization  by  the  employes  that  the  letters 
were  meant  to  do  something,  and  hence  were  of  value,  made 
a  big  increase  of  profits  in  a  few  months. 

I  believe  I  am  safe  in  saying  that  the  principle  of  the 
old  adage,  "more  haste,  less  speed,"  applied  to  many  mail 
order  systems  would  be  found  a  money-saver. 

There  is  far  too  much  of  the  "rush"  to  do  a  big  business, 
and  too  little  care  in  the  doing  of  it.  Less  business,  or 
more  time  spent  in  doing  things  right  woul3  be  found  an 
Interesting  exercise  in  many  offices. 

All  Experience  in  Ratio. 

To  many  mail  order  advertisers  it  is  a  well  known  fact 
that  to  simply  increase  the  amount  of  the  advertising  appro- 
priation will  not  necessarily  increase  the  total  volume  of 
business. 

Now  and  then  I  ran  across  a  man  who  "pooh  poohs" 
tihis  idea. 

I  met  such  an  one  a  year  or  so  ago. 

He  had  been  investing  about  $10,000  yearly  in  adver- 
tising in  a  selected  list  of  mediums,  which  he  claimed  to 

lOS 


ri,nj.f.r  XII:  MaU  Ord^r  by  HU  or  Miss 

have  tested  to  a  point  where  he  knew  absolutely  what  chey 

would  produce.  ,:^„iv  to  treble  his  business  at 

His  intention,  now,  ^^^^.^^^^^^^^^^^^  from 

one  effort  by  increasmg  his  advertismg  app    ^ 

for  te.  ll«»  lie  1"7"';»^  !,„  u™  800  .8P  .  J"' 

duce   $25,000.  ^^^ 

It  rarely,  if  ever,  works  oui  j  ^^ 

So  this  advertiser  found  out.    But  ""»  "3"   j^  jt  „„t 

decUned  my  advice  and  suggestion  and  had  tried 

^jr^'came  back  to  -  ^  Jnd  out  J.%r  ^ 

J  E^a  ;Lt  t^^^if  artV  which  wire 

"^r^r^traTtSdifr.^^^^^^^^  ^  ,^,3 

But  the  subsequent  hauls  would  naturally  contain  a 

'"iht^f  -"e!  Wf  a  very  perfect  simile,  but  it  was 

at  least  forceful.  ,„^„i;i   onnpal  to  the  most 

A  first    stronff  advertisement  would  appeal  ^^  "^^ 

Jli    If  f L  subscribers  to  the  medium  used.    Or  to 
susceptible  of  the  subscriDcrs  ^^^.^^^  ^^^^^^ 

those  who  were  immediately  in  neea  oi 

'^'?he  second  advertisement  would  only  attract  an  equal 

^ThfprS^  £t  S  aSSTwt  selling  was  one  that 
did  not"  admit  of  a  different  offer,  »"*  countable  resu^ 
fiom  "cumulative  effect"  evidently  could  not  be  depended 

°"urSuX  therefore,  that  to  simply  ^-bU  hi^  adve. 
«sinff  t»  the  tame  mediumi  «»  he  had  used  before  tauea 
rjfoduce  tteee  times  the  number  of  inquiries  and  sales. 

109 


MMiiHM^^ 


BiMm  Cmum  of  Reckless  Advertising  Waste 


Chapter  XH:  Mail  Order  by  Hit  or  Miss 


i 


II 


:l:f 


He  Iiad  eiridently  reiiclieii  tlie  point  where  the  ratio  of 
Ills  adTertising  returns  was  about  as  high  as  he  could  expect 
from  the  maUe  circulation  of  the  periodical. 

What  he  should  have  done,  therefore,  was  to  have  made 
an  exhaustive  analysis  of  the  various  publications  he  was 
then  using,  in  the  endeavor  to  ascertain,  as  accurately  as 
he  could,  the  total  probably  productive  circulation  of  each, 
as  applied  to  his  own  business. 

The  available  circulation  on  some  other  product  might,  of 
course,  have  been  entirely  different. 

And,  having  analyzed  the  possible  buyers  of  his  product 
as  closely  as  possible  he  should  then  have  endeavored  to  use 
his  expanded  advertising  on  fresh  fields  of  effort  In  this 
way  he  might  have  been  able  to  average  about  the  same'  ratio 
of  returns  as  he  had  received  from  his  first  $10,000. 

I  am  assuming  that  he  had  been  using  large  enough  space 
and  good  enough  copy  to  have  measurably  realized  on  the 
available  reply-effectiveness  of  his  list  of  mediums. 

This,  of  course,  brings  up  at  once  the  whole  big  ques- 
tion of  "exhaustion  of  circulation" — ^which  as  Kipling  says. 
Is  "another  story,"  and  cannot  be  discussed  at  this  time. 

A  Misuse  of  Keyed  Advertisements. 

To  successfully  "key"  an  advertisement  is  becoming 
more  and  more  of  a  problem. 

In  many  cities  the  local  postoffice  officials  refuse  to  per- 
mit the  use  of  "fake"  or  "blind"  street  numbers,  requiring 
advertisers  to  use  only  those  street  and  building  numbers  to 
which  they  are  legUimaiely  entitled. 

The  advertiser  has  therefore  devised  a  system  of  other 
keys  based  on  catalogs  with  different  numbers  for  the  dif- 
ferent publications  in  which  his  ad  appears.  He  has  also 
used  devices  such  as  "Station  A"  or  "Station  No.  6,"  etc., 
as  keys. 

In  some  cases  these  fictitious  "stationa"  have  also  been 
ruled  out  by  the  postoffice  authorities. 

Recently  the  postoffice  department  officials  at  Washington 
have  taken  this  matter  up  and  I  understand  "fake"  street 
numbers,  artificial  "station"  numbers,  etc.,  will  all  be  pro- 
hibited. 


/' 


III 


This  is  going  to  make  the  problem  of  keyed  ads  still 

more  difficult.  , 

I  have  in  mind  a  situation  resulting  from  poor  keymg 

that  led  to  serious  results.         „  ,  ,  .     , .     ../• 

An  advertiser  used  "Station"  numbers,  and  m  his  dif- 
ferent ads  stated  his  catalogs  with  different  numbers  so 
that  in  this  way  he  could  identify  the  source  of  mquiry. 

But  inquirers,  in  writing,  failed  to  mention  any  sta- 
tion" number,  and  simply  asked  for  "latest  catalog,  or 
"1910  catalog."  In  this  way  a  very  large  percentage  ot 
the   inquiries  were  untraceable. 

It  was  not  considered  wise  to  send  post  card  or  other 
tracer  to  persons  who  had  asked  for  catalogs,  as  is  some- 
times done  in  an  attempt  to  supply  information  as  to  the 

source  of  inquiry.  ^  «^  .     wa 

The  result  was,  therefore,  that  approximately  60  to  70 

per  cent  of  the  inquiries  and  resulting  sales  were  untrace- 

The  advertiser  declined  to  divide  the  unkeyed  replies, 
pro  rata,  among  the  mediums  used.  He,  in  common  mth 
others,  who  have  faced  this  same  problem,  did  not  consider 

this   fair   to   all.  i_   .  ..  i j 

Possibly  it  maij  lack  somewhat  in  accuracy,  but  it  would 

have  been  better  to  do  this  than  to  foHow  the  plan  he 

adonted. 

For  he  used  the  actual,  keyed  and  traceable  returns  as 
a  basis  on  which  to  figure  the  total  value  of  the  various 
publications  used  and  in  so  doing  he  marked  a  large  num- 
ber of  the  media  as  not  coming  up  to  his  standard  of  pro- 
ductiveness. 

These,  in  many  cases,  he  cut  off  his  list  for  the  next  year. 

His  claim  was  that  they  "did  not  pay." 

He  gave  them  no  credit  whatever  for  their  proportion  of 
unkeyed  sales.  In  fact  his  idea  seemed  to  be  that  the 
unkeyed  sales  were  due  to  cumulative  effect  of  previous  ad- 
verti'sing,  and  to  the  recommendations  of  friends  and 
former  customers.  ^       j. 

In  this  way  he  blindly  and  obstinately  threw  out  medium 
after  medium  that  was  undoubtedly  paying  him  well,  while 
he  retained  and  used  large  space  in  publications  that  were 

111 


i 


Hidden  Causes  of  Reckless  AdveHising  Waste 


producing  lots  of  cheap  keyed  inquiries,  but  whose  total 

contribution  to  the  gross  volume  of  sales  was  negligible. 

His  advertising  finally  became  so  unproductive  that  he 

stopped   it   entirely,   sold  out   his    business   and   quit   the 

J^'^^^^  ^^  ^^^^^^  '*^  disgusted,  asserting  that  "adver- 
tising didn  t  pay  and  "was  too  much  of  a  gamble  for  him." 
A  very  small  amount  of  common  sense  and  judgment  ap- 
plied to  his  advertising  keys  would  have  shown  him  how 
He  had  deliberately  cut  his  own  throat  by  "killing"  his 
productive  mediums  and  wasting  his  advertising  fund  in 
sterile  publications. 

Maa  Order  Advertising  Requires  Mastery  of 
Detail  and  Office  System. 

The  vma  in  charge  of  the  advertising  and  selling  end 
of  a  mail  order  business  must  be  a  master  of  detail  and 
of  office  system  if  he  is  to  make  it  a  success. 

In  the  great  mail  order  houses  there  are,  of  course,  a 
immber  of  heads  of  departments  to  look  after  the  multi- 
tude of  detail  that  comes  up. 

But  there  are  multitudes  of  important  mail  order  houses 
where   the   advertising  man  is  also  the  "sales  manager," 
office  manager,     "correspondent,"  etc. 
It  is  a  huge  mistake  to  put  a  cheap,  inexperienced  man 
In  this  position.     He  will  almost  inevitably  fail 

It  IS  about  as  big  a  mistake  for  the  head  of  the  business 
to  interfere  m  matters  where  a  trained  man  has  been  em- 
ployed to  look  after  advertising  and  other  details. 

if  he  has  no  confidence  in  the  man  he  employs  to  do  this 
work  he  should  not  employ  him  in  the  first  place. 

IS  wortJi  and  give  him  a  free  hand. 

Or  at  least  he  should  be  guided  by  the  advice  of  those 
r^  ^7\Tt  ^  T"f ^*^  °^  ^^''  Ph^««  «f  advertising 

:;!  his  'ft'"^  ^^'  '-'"''''''''^  "^^^*  ^^  ^^«  -^  --  to 

bri!f  "^^  T.T'^?  i  ^^^^  "-^  -  ^"-*-*^-  of  this 
brief  article  had  heeded  the  counsel  of  experienced  adver> 

tising  managers  and  agencies  my  chronicle  of  the  record 
would  have  been  a  brighter  one. 

112 


% 


Y 


I 


ii 


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33  Z^^ 

Boulder f  pseud 


Hidden  causes  of  reckless 
adyertising  waste 

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2~0~1926 


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DEC 


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